Re: Order & meaning in a proposition

"Lemming" <thiswillbounce_at_bumblbee.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:dk8570p9lapb8kh7uar9psihtat6ojgh07_at_4ax.com...
> On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 19:02:30 -0500, "Dawn M. Wolthuis"
> <dwolt_at_tincat-group.com> wrote:

> >Pat is the host who seated the President and the Secretary of the
Interior
> >
> >If we have a relational model for this proposition, we will end up
splitting
> >this proposition up and will undoubtedly lose the order of those who were
> >seated.
> I think you are seeing information here which isn't present. The only
> information here is that Pat, a host, seated two specified persons.
> The order Pat did it is not explicit
>We
> may infer those other aspects, but we cannot do so with certainty.

Yes, that is called conversational implicature; and it is part of the meaning of the sentence. That is, a hearer may conventionally conclude that the guests were seated in that order. Furthermore, we can make the order explicit by saying: "Pat is the host who seated the President and then the Secretary of the Interior" and I believe that Dawn's point still holds. That is, the resulting relational model would not reflect the order; even though it is now explicit. Received on Tue Apr 06 2004 - 17:06:25 CEST