Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10437779 | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization | 2005 | 22 Pages |
Abstract
The theory of cheap talk, evaluated as a model of language use, is shown to mismatch the reality of communication in five respects: real talk is conflict dampening, is more than assertion, is dear, is not literal, and is beholden to its medium. The linguistic theory of pragmatics is employed to demonstrate formally that every utterance creates a coordination game whose resolution reveals evidence of similarity and of a shared mental model, so there is no neutral style of communication: an utterance must affect the relationship between the players. This alteration, in turn, will affect any game allowing for communication.
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Authors
David Sally,