ABSTRACT
In chapter 5, we discussed the problem of meaning. We know by now that the literal meaning of an utterance is only one factor in determining its full meaning. It is widely recognized that all utterances may have multiple meanings and that communicators use contextual and general background information to establish meaning. Linguists disagree, however, about whether or not such phenomena are the proper domain of linguistics. There is considerable debate about whether or not the theoretical issues related to pragmatics and discourse introduced in chapter 5 should be included in linguistic study or relegated to some other human science discipline.
