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Expectations in Interaction

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Pragmemes and Theories of Language Use

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 9))

Abstract

This paper discusses the notion of ‘expectation’, a crucial component of pragmemes. Expectations have a dual nature: they derive from social practice, but at the same time they have to be stored and represented in the individual’s brain. Research in neuroscience has shown that the formation of expectations is not merely the result of the operation of general, all-purpose mechanisms, but of a dedicated cognitive network. Once formed, expectations remain stable and guide the individual’s understanding and behavior in an automatized way. This explains why we humans can be so efficient when dealing with social situations that conform to our previous expectations, while at the same time we are almost unable to understand unexpected behaviours.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Lengua Española y Lingüística General, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain

    Victoria Escandell-Vidal

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  1. Victoria Escandell-Vidal
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Correspondence to Victoria Escandell-Vidal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Keith Allan

  2. Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Alessandro Capone

  3. State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA

    Istvan Kecskes

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Escandell-Vidal, V. (2016). Expectations in Interaction. In: Allan, K., Capone, A., Kecskes, I. (eds) Pragmemes and Theories of Language Use. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43491-9_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43491-9_25

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43490-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43491-9

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