The Semantics-Pragmatics Controversy

2 Against the Standard Notions of Literal Meaning and Non-literal Meaning

In this chapter, I will argue against the standard notions of literal meaning and non-literal meaning described in chapter 1 (sections 2.1 and 2.2, respectively). The main aim of this chapter is to show that the dichotomies traditionally used to differentiate literal meaning from non-literal meaning either cannot in fact differentiate the two meanings (as is the case with the feature of context-(in)dependence) or are not such ‘all-or-nothing’ concepts as traditionally implied (as is the case with the property of conventionality). Generally, the arguments presented point to the crucial conclusion that literal meaning and non-literal meaning are in fact not so different ...