A Cognitive Pragmatic Approach to ‘S knows whether P’ Constructions

Sadashi Mori

‘S knows whether P’ constructions, which are considered unacceptable by such linguists as Oe (1984) and Ando (1985), must be regarded as acceptable, for some examples of the above constructions are found in a large corpus of conversational American English, namely the CNN transcripts corpus. This paper attempts to examine illocutionary forces conveyed by ‘S knows whether P’ constructions from a cognitive pragmatic viewpoint.

It is argued that these constructions can be used to deny such a proposition as [S does not know whether P] which has been cognized by the speaker before the speech time. This means that these constructions convey illocutionary forces such as denial, reproach and objection when they are used under the conditions mentioned above.

It is also claimed that ‘S knows whether P’ constructions which have such a presupposition as [¬S does not know whether P] can be used to let the hearer know that S is the most reliable informant on the authenticity of [P]. This claim leads us to the conclusion that these constructions convey such illocutionary forces as instructions to trust S’s statement and advice not to trust ¬S’s statement.