abovemeaning
Abovemeaning is a neologism used in linguistics and communication studies to denote the layer of meaning that lies above the literal proposition of an utterance. It is used to describe information conveyed through context, speaker intention, tone, social cues, and discourse structure that is not encoded in the proposition's semantics. The term emphasizes pragmatic meaning that listeners infer rather than directly assert.
Origin: The term is a blend of "above" and "meaning," signaling that it sits atop the literal
In usage: Abovemeaning is often discussed when analyzing conversational implicatures, speech acts, or deliberate rhetorical effects.
Relation to other concepts: It overlaps with but is not identical to pragmatic inference, implicature, and presupposition.
Criticism: Critics argue that the term is redundant with established notions of pragmatics and that it risks
See also: Pragmatics, Implicature, Presupposition, Speech act, Discourse analysis.