The process of communication involves two types of meaning: explicit and implicit. An attempt is made to draw a distinction between two carriers of implicit meaning- presupposition and implicature. It is argued that presupposition is what the speaker assumes before making an utterance, and implicature is what the addressee infers from a linguistic structure used in an appropriate linguistic context. Implicature is of two types: non-contextual (or non-situational) and contextual (or situational). Although both types of implicature are determined by the context, they are generated using different types of context. Non-contextual implicature arises in contexts which are familiar to the addressee, while contextual implicature arises in contexts (situations) which are new to the addressee. Pragmatic competence is the ability to discover implicit meaning. Thus, of great importance is the description of the mechanism that carries implicit meaning. There are two such mechanisms: 1) linguistic structures used in appropriate linguistic contexts and 2) linguistic structures used in appropriate situations. The first mechanism is responsible for the generation of non-contextual implicature while the second mechanism is responsible for the generation of contextual implicature. Both types of implicature contribute to the economy of language. However, of the two types of implicature, the more important in the respect is contextual implicature- it makes possible to use one and the same... [to full text]

In the framework of new stylistics as developed by Roger Fowler, this scientific work researches the impact of the background knowledge of the reader on the interpretation of the beginning of a literary text. The functioning of pragmatic presuppositions in poetry and non-poetic fiction (novels) is explored; 437 poems and 223 novels are analyzed, and the obtained data is compared with the statistical values of the development of pragmatic presuppositions in six genres of non-fictional texts, 300 texts in total. All the sample of the thesis represents works of the twentieth century English-writing authors. Development of pragmatic presuppositions is sought to be quantified by employing the strategy of the research of pragmatic values as developed by van Rooij and Potts. Four main ways of triggering pragmatic presuppositions are singled out in the thesis: non-standard use of (1) verb forms, (2) articles and (3) deictic elements as well as (4) the mixed method represented by combinations of the first three methods or non-standard use of lexical elements. The research strives to verify whether fictional texts of different genres maintain the same trends of triggering pragmatic presuppositions or the genre of a text imposes upon the choice of pragmatic elements. / Šiame moksliniame darbe Rogerio Fowlerio naujosios stilistikos mokslinėje perspektyvoje nagrinėjama, kaip pamatinės skaitytojo žinios įtakoja literatūrinio kūrinio teksto pradžios interpretaciją. Darbe tiriamas pragmatinių prielaidų veikimas poezijoje ir prozoje (romanuose); ištirti 437 eilėraščiai ir 223 romanai, o gauti duomenys lyginami su šešių žanrų trijų šimtų neliteratūrinių kūrinių pragmatininių prielaidų kūrimo duomenimis. Visi tyrimui atsitiktinai parinkti tekstai buvo sukurti anglakalbių dvidešimtojo amžiaus autorių. Pragmatinių prielaidų kūrimą siekiama kvantifikuoti, naudojantis Van Rooijaus ir Pottso pragmatinių verčių tyrimo strategija. Išskiriami keturi pagrindiniai pragmatinių prielaidų iššaukimo būdai – nestandartinis (1) veiksmažodžių formų, (2) artikelių ir (3) deiktinių elementų vartojimas bei (4) mišrus metodas – pirmųjų trijų metodų kombinacija arba nestandartinis leksinių priemonių vartojimas. Tyrimu siekiama patikrinti, ar skirtingų žanrų literatūriniuose tekstuose pastebimi bendri pragmatinių prielaidų iššaukimo dėsningumai, ar teksto žanras esmingai įtakoja pragmatinių elementų parinkimą.