Microaggression or misunderstanding? Implicatures, inferences and accountability

This paper contributes a pragmatic perspective to the complex question of how to classify microaggressions that are committed via linguistic means. Given that microaggressions are often communicated implicitly, two key questions arise: (i) on what linguistic grounds is a recipient licensed to infer that a microaggression has been committed, and (ii) to what extent can a speaker claim they have been misunderstood and hence deny responsibility for having committed a microaggression? These questions are addressed through a discussion of the nature of implicature, inferences and accountability, highlighting that a key challenge lies in the fact that microaggressive content is typically not part of the representational content of what is achieved in interaction.