‘Subliminable’ Messages, Scare Quotes, and the Use Hypothesis

Predelli, Stefano

doi:10.1075/bjl.17.09pre

Article published In: Hybrid Quotations
Edited by Philippe De Brabanter
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 17] 2003
► pp. 153–166

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‘Subliminable’ Messages, Scare Quotes, and the Use Hypothesis

Stefano Predelli | The University of Nottingham

Published online: 5 April 2005

https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.17.09pre

According to the Use Hypothesis, examples such as

(1) life is ‘the farce which everybody has to perform’

convey (among other things) a message to the effect that life is the farce which everybody has to perform, that is, information-content obtained from the customary contributions provided by the expressions within quotes. Apparently problematic from the point of view of the Use Hypothesis are cases such as

(2) these are ‘subliminable’ ads

because ‘subliminable’ seemingly fails to contribute anything to the content in question. My essay defends the Use Hypothesis by suggesting how it can profitably be applied to cases such as (2).

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