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Abstract:
Even though assertion has held centre stage in much philosophical and linguistic
theorising on language, Mark Jary’s ‘Assertion’ represents the first book-length
treatment of the topic. The content of the book is aptly described by the author
himself: ''This book has two aims. One is to bring together and discuss in a
systematic way a range of perspectives on assertion: philosophical, linguistic
and psychological. [...] The other is to present a view of the pragmatics of
assertion, with particular emphasis on the contribution of the declarative mood
to the process of utterance interpretation.'' (p. 1). The promise contained in
this introductory note is to a large extent fulfilled: the first seven chapters
of the book discuss many of the relevant philosophical and linguistic approaches
to assertion and at the same time provide the background for the presentation of
Jary's own view on the pragmatics of declaratives, presented in the last (and
longest) chapter.
