Generalized Implicature For English Articles

The thesis makes an attempt at developing a neo-Gricean implicature?approach to the English articles the and a(n). In this approach, English articles are largely analyzed by the three neo-Gricean pragmatic principles proposed by Levinson (1987a, 1991, 2000), namely, the Q(uantity)-principle, the M(anner)-principle, and the I(nformative)-principle (with that order of priority). Through the analysis of quite a number of examples within this theoretical framework, the thesis has come to a tentative understanding that the interpretation of English articles in daily language use is mainly based on their generalized implicature in the interaction of language communication.The thesis contains a body of four chapters, together with a short introduction and a concise conclusion.Chapter 1, on the basis of a brief review of the researches of English articles, proposes an implicature approach.Chapter 2 sketchily introduces the theories of implicature, focusing on the neo-Gricean theory.Chapter 3 is the core of the discussion, with its major reference to the neo-Gricean approach. With the common understanding of the implying definiteness and a(n) indefiniteness in mind, the author makes a detailed analysis of the use of English articles in language communication within the theoretical framework built up upon the utility of Levinson's neo-Gricean pragmatic apparatus of the Q-, I- and M-principles, and suggests that their interpretationsare mainly affected in terms of their generalized implicature coming from the interaction of the grammatical meaning of the article concerned on the one hand, and the context concerned on the other. The generalized implicature in this respect may be further reduced into the Q-, the I- and the M-implicature.Chapter 4 discusses the pragmatic inference of the implicature for English articles used in specific contexts.This thesis attempts to make a conclusion that, generalized implicature is most often presented in interpreting the intention of the communicator in using an English article, and this is the fundamental basis of the use of English articles in daily language communication. The study has also proved that, with the use of Levinson's three pragmatic principles, many issues regarding preferred interpretations of English articles could be given a supposedly new and more satisfactory explanation. The present neo-Gricean approach to English articles, though tentative, is fairly original in its nature, and therefore, may be of somewhat theoretical significance. The study of the neo-Gricean theory may promote further pragmatic approach to some other aspects of natural language understanding.