Meta-communication in the Language Action Perspective

Meta-communication has not received much explicit attention in LAP literature, but in view of application of the LAP to system specification and IC system design, meta-communication needs to be taken seriously: all discussion about communication tools (such as languages, but also systems dedicated to specific contexts and tasks) involves meta-communication. In this article, we discuss the place of meta-communication in the LAP, linking it to such subjects as the discussion and discourse layers, the claim to comprehensibility and other validity claims, context, and definition theory. We also discuss Polanyi’s framework of tacit knowledge and introduce the notion of ‘semantic reassurance’. We conclude with a discussion of some implications for IC system specification and argue in favour of the support of controlled discussion-level meta-communication in future IC systems.

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