This thesis develops a pragmatic theory of metaphors and slurs. In the pragmaticliterature, theorists mostly hold the view that the framework developed by Grice isonly applicable to the sentence-level pragmatic phenomena, whereas the subsententialpragmatic phenomena require a different approach. In this thesis, I argue againstthis view and claim that the Gricean framework, after some plausible revisions, canexplain subsentential pragmatic phenomena, such as metaphors and slurs.In the first chapter, I introduce three basic theses I will defend and give anoutline of the argument I will develop. The second chapter discusses three claimson metaphor that are widely discussed in the literature. There I state my aim topresent a theory of metaphor which can accommodate these three claims. Chapter 3introduces the notion of "phrasal implicature", which will be used to explain phrase-levelpragmatic phenomena with a Gricean approach. In Chapter 4, I present mytheory of metaphor, which I call "phrasal implicature theory of metaphor" anddiscuss certain aspects of the theory. The notion of phrasal implicature enables anew conception of what-is-said and a different approach to the semantics-pragmaticsdistinction. Chapter 5 looks into these issues. In Chapter 6, I compare my theoryof metaphor with three other theories. Finally, in Chapter 7, I develop a phrasalimplicature theory of slurs, which I argue outperforms its rivals in explaining varioususes of slurs.
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The phrasal implicature theory of metaphors and slurs