| The logic of indirect speech. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18199841 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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When people speak, they often insinuate their intent indirectly rather than stating it as a bald proposition. Examples include sexual come-ons, veiled threats, polite requests, and concealed bribes. We propose a three-part theory of indirect speech, based on the idea that human communication involves a mixture of cooperation and conflict. First, indirect requests allow for plausible deniability, in which a cooperative listener can accept the request, but an uncooperative one cannot react adversarially to it. This intuition is supported by a game-theoretic model that predicts the costs and benefits to a speaker of direct and indirect requests. Second, language has two functions: to convey information and to negotiate the type of relationship holding between speaker and hearer (in particular, dominance, communality, or reciprocity). The emotional costs of a mismatch in the assumed relationship type can create a need for plausible deniability and, thereby, select for indirectness even when there are no tangible costs. Third, people perceive language as a digital medium, which allows a sentence to generate common knowledge, to propagate a message with high fidelity, and to serve as a reference point in coordination games. This feature makes an indirect request qualitatively different from a direct one even when the speaker and listener can infer each other's intentions with high confidence. |
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Authors:
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Steven Pinker; Martin A Nowak; James J Lee |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Date: 2008-01-16 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 105 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2008 Jan |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-01-24 Completed Date: 2008-02-12 Revised Date: 2011-09-21 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 833-8 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychology, and Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. pinker@wjh.harvard.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Cooperative Behavior Game Theory Humans Language* Logic* Negotiating Speech* |
| Grant Support | |
ID/Acronym/Agency:
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R01 GM078986-02/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS; R01 HD-18381/HD/NICHD NIH HHS |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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