A study is reported investigating the question whether inferences made from sentences occur immediately in comprehension or are in part a function of the way material from sentences is stored in memory. (Author/RM)

Research is reported in which subjects memorized sentences containing words from one of five deictic categories. When the sentences were presented in an experimental setting isolated from actual time, place, person, and discourse context, the deictic words were more difficult to remember than nondeictic words. (Author/RM)

Takes an in-depth look at the probabilistic nature of human communication, i.e, the misinterpretation of the language-producer message by the language comprehender. Reviews the psycho-linguistic, linguistic and philosophical literature dealing with this aspect of language and demonstrates that this misinterpretation is related to a basic process…