Expressives, Majoratives, and Ineffability

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to argue that not all instances of expressive language suffer alike from the problem of descriptive ineffability. Descriptive ineffability refers to the problem that speakers are never fully satisfied when they are asked to paraphrase sentences containing expressive terms such as `damn' using only descriptive terms. It is commonly assumed that descriptive ineffability is an important feature of all kinds of expressive language - derogatory language just as commendatory or valorizing language. However, I find that majoratives, i.e. the positive counterpart to negative expressives (pejoratives), do not exhibit the characteristic of descriptive ineffability. This finding is important both to clarify what kind of data competing theories of expressives have to explain and to shed further light on the wider phenomenon of ineffability.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Expressives, Majoratives, and Ineffability ; volume:31 ; number:2 ; year:2017 ; pages:1-16 ; extent:16 ; Kriterion ; 31, Heft 2 (2017), 1-16 (gesamt 16)

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Mildenberger, Carl David

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.1515/krt-2017-310202
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022090315420811804939
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 15.08.2025, 07:30 MESZ