8. Avowals: Expression, Content, and Truth

Author: Bar-On, Dorit

Source: Speaking My Mind, November 2004 , pp. 285-340(56)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

The author begins this chapter with an account of how linguistic expressions, and in particular, mental ‘I’-ascriptions, could acquire an expressive role similar to the role played by natural expressions, despite the dissimilarities between avowals and natural expressions. This is done by explaining how mental self-ascriptions could emerge in the order of acquisition. In addition, the last part of the chapter answers the question how avowals are truth-evaluable (despite their similarity with non-truth-evaluable natural expressions), and how avowals are governed by a special presumption of truth.

Keywords: self-ascriptions; truth; expressive behaviour; language acquisition

Document Type: Research article

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