Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-c654p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T16:37:40.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An anatomy of opinions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Jean Atelsek
Jean Atelsek
Affiliation:
Oberlin College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Opinions assume a paradoxical character in many speech events. The speaker, by sincerely presenting his views on a topic, is expressing his belief in a proposition, and this belief must be regarded as indisputable. If a speaker says that marijuana should be legalized, one cannot deny the speaker's belief in this proposition. He has expressed an opinion. The proposition, however, may itself be the topic of dispute. Another speaker may disagree by expressing his belief that marijuana should remain illegal, and a dispute regarding the validity of each of these propositions may ensue. Neither of these propositions is subject to proof or disproof, but the speakers may attempt to support them in order to add to the validity of the propositions and substantiate their beliefs.

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , August 1981 , pp. 217 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, B. (1974). An analysis of vemacular performative verbs. In Shuy, R. W. and Bailey, C-J. N.(eds.). Toward Tomorrow's Linguistics. Washington: Georgetown University Press. 139–58.Google Scholar
Fraser, B. (1975). Hedged performatives. In Cole, P. and Morgan, J. L. (eds.), Speech acts. (Syntax and Semantics 3.) New York: Academic Press. 187–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancher, M. (1979). The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts. Language in Society 8:1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1976). A classification of illocutionary acts. Language in Society 5:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar