Whither historical pragmatics? A cognitively-oriented perspective

Abstract

Abstract The emphasis of this paper is on cognitively-oriented strands of research developed in the last two decades, and on language-internal evidence for pragmatic factors that by hypothesis enable change. Work is highlighted in which pragmatic inferencing is analyzed in context. Contexts are understood to include not only the local clause but also complex clauses, conversational interaction, discourse structuring and typological shifts that are ongoing in the language as a whole. The roles in meaning change of turn taking, frequency and factors such as non-cooperation are touched on.