Nao, Marion  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6300-4867
2020.
‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’: Truth negating implications and effects of an epistemic frame trap.
Language and Communication
73
, pp. 18-28.
10.1016/j.langcom.2020.01.009
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2020.01.009
Abstract
The paper theoretically examines the epistemic implications of the frame trap cued by the conversational use of the Shakespearean quote ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’, in which protestation of innocence is taken as evidence of guilt, as is its absence. The mechanism of frame trap is found to operate by recursive truth negation in the case of ongoing protestation (in keeping with the conversationally expected denial of false attribution) or its pre-emption in anticipation of further striction along with resistance. Problematically, both the implications and paradoxical effects of the expression thereby ‘evidence’ the guilt of its recipient.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Architecture |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| ISSN: | 0271-5309 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 17 September 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Sep 2026 09:45 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/189677 |
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