Triggers Of Deferred Ostension In Metalinguistic Negation:a Cognitive Pragmatic Approach

Negation,a type of linguistic phenomenon prevailing universally in all the languages in the world,plays an important role in daily communication.As a special form of negation in natural languages,Metalinguistic Negation(MN)is a specialized use of the negative operator where it functions as a device for registering an objection to a preceding utterance on any grounds other than its truth-conditional content.MN has representative characteristics and pragmatic functions which are different from that of ordinary negation or Descriptive Negation(DN).Therefore,comprehending the production and cognitive process of MN will play an important part in construing the negative phenomenon of natural languages.Since Horn’s innovative proposal of MN was published in 1985,this special linguistic phenomenon has been attracting a growing number of researchers’ attention.However,previous scholars take more of a semantic approach by limiting their scope of research within the range of negative operator and negated contents falling with the scope of negation operator,and fall short of a cognitive pragmatic perspective.From cognitive pragmatic point of view,the meaning of an utterance can be elaborated as the realization of communicators’ intention who produces that utterance.There is no exception to MN,so a comprehensive investigation of this issue should take ostensiveinferential process into account,which helps to reveal the real intention of the communicator in a certain context.By adopting the notion of “deferred ostension”,the thesis reveals the triggers of deferred ostension in MN.As an important means of pragmatic inference,deferred ostension is proposed in this thesis as a typical access to the realization of MN.It is formed and embodied by describing something present that is saliently related to an absent object “X”,so as to ostend and highlight “X”.The triggers of deferred ostension underlie the production of MN from the aspect of pragmatics,in which the intentions of communicators play important role.They serve as ostensive stimulus directing hearers to change their cognitive environment and infer speakers’ real communicative intentions.In the thesis,I attempt to account for the ostensive-inferential process whereby MN is produced and comprehended in natural context on the basis of Relevance Theory.According to Relevance Theory,human cognition tends to pursue the maximized and optimal relevance during the process of communication.The thesis proposes that the triggers of deferred ostension are the maximized and optimal relevance to construe MN.These triggers,as suggested in this thesis,play important roles in the relevance of human cognition which help receptors to achieve maximum contextual effect in communications with minimum efforts.The triggers of deferred ostension in MN fall into five categories: semantic triggers,syntactic triggers,phonetic triggers,punctuative triggers,and triggers of diction.The elaboration of MN by deferred ostension from cognitive pragmatic perspective not only enhances our understanding of various negation matters in linguistics but also provides a possible approach to the revelation of the cognitive mechanism of MN’ production and comprehension.