Rhetorical syllogism and implicature-drawing in pragmatic inference

Abstract

本文运用语言学界较为陌生的西方修辞学核心术语"修辞三段论"来详细刻画语用推理中寓义的推导过程,通过构建不完全关联及无关联话语产生寓义的推导模式,揭示寓义表达的隐匿性、或然性以及可接受性。其中对后一模式的刻画还说明,在具体语境中表面无关的话语很可能蕴涵了一个载有寓义的修辞三段论,我们将其视为修辞式推论的一种可能的新形式。研究显示修辞学与语用学的结合具有重要的互益性。 This paper presents a detailed characterization of implicature-drawing in pragmatic inference in terms of "rhetorical syllogism", which is less known in linguistic circles. Revealed through the inference models is the nature of implicature communication: its implicitness, probability and acceptability. The model on irrelevant utterance also suggests that there may exist a potential type of rhetorical syllogism, which could constructively widen the normal types. The findings demonstrate the beneficial interface of rhetoric and pragmatics.