The acceptance relation and the specification of communicating agents

Abstract

This work presents the formalization of pragmatical notions based on the relation between agents and sentences of the language which they use to communicate to each other. The approach is based on R. Martin's "Toward a Systematic Pragmatics" (1959). A pragmatical metalanguage expresses agent's acceptance relation with an object language. Some set constructions are used to illustrate the definitions and make the ideas intuitive. Semantical and pragmatical notions are constructed based on this acceptance relation. Martin defends that some of these notions are closely similar to notions of subjective intension or connotation, having the advantage of being extensionals. The subjective accent of this approach to language and communication is appropriate to the problem of the specification of diversified communicating agents.<>