Topic 13 - Shared knowledge and absurdist drama (Session A) > More about shared schematic knowledge > Task D > Part 1 > Answer

More about shared schematic knowledge

Task D – Knowledge about language and of communicative conventions

Part 1 - Our Answer

The person is male. True
The person is female. False
The person has a wife. False
The person has a husband. False
The person is thirteen years old. False
The person is thirty years old. Likely
The person is a father. Unlikely
The person is a mother. False
The person favourite drink is beer. Likely
The person’s favourite drink is white wine. Unlikely

Discussion

Note that in this case some of the statements follow logically from the meaning of the word ‘bachelor’ (e.g. bachelors are male and unmarried by definition). It would seem also to follow logically (by definition) that a bachelor can’t be three years old, as it only makes sense to talk of someone being a bachelor or not when they are old enough to decide whether or not to remain unmarried. But there are some complexities. In other cultures and times, children can certainly be married (though it is still not clear that it makes sense to refer to a male thirteen-year-old child as a bachelor in such a culture). Other things ‘follow statistically’ (are more, or less, likely) from our schematic knowledge (e.g. British men tend to prefer drinking beer to white wine, but a few will prefer white wine).

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