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Pragmatics as vector semantics
The article deals with one of the traditional questions of linguistic pragmatics – its relations with the semantics. The author points out two general features of the corresponding discussion: 1) the relationship between semantics and pragmatics is usually discussed in terms of distinctions and 2) examining data from the semantic point of view, a researcher usually focuses attention at the figure of the speaker, while the pragmatic approach is usually concen-trated on the figure of the hearer. Review of a number of contemporary sources shows that researchers are nearly unanimous in the rejection of attempts to draw a clear demarcation line between semantics and pragmatics. A turn to the origins of theoretical pragmatics allows one to treat the latter as a special type of semantics. A mathematical analogy is proposed, according to which several different meanings of an utterance may be distinguished: a “pure” one (the semantics proper) – a scalar sense; meanings containing the implications of the speaker and the hearers' inferences – vector senses. The difference between vector senses of an utterance is shown depending on the hearers to whom the sense is formulated (the addressee or witnesses). In conclusion, it is stated that the proposed mathematical analogy allows constructing a satisfactory calculation of semantic interpretations (i.e., practical senses) for any utterance.
pragmatics, semantics, semantic interpretation, utterance, scalar sense, vector sense
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