On Cognitive Economy Principle And Informativity Theory In The Interpretation Of Missing Links

The study of cohesion and coherence is one of the most important topics in discourse analysis.As a phenomenon of language use,"missing links"are closely related to cohesion and coherence. This concept was first presented by van Dijk in 1977. In the book Text and Context, he wrote:Natural language discourse is not EXPLICIT. That is, there are propositions which are not directly expressed, but which may be INFERRED from expressed propositions. If such implicit propositions must be postulated for the establishment of coherent interpretation, they are what we called missing links.Many linguists have done research on missing links. However, most research is descriptive. The research on missing links from a cognitive perspective is rare. Besides, the interpretation of missing links is actually style-specific. This thesis is to interpret missing links in news discourse from a cognitive perspective, and tries to find out the cognitive mechanism of missing links.In this thesis, the theoretical base of missing links is discussed in terms of two theories: cognitive economy principle and informativity theory.Cognitive economy principle, or simply economy principle, stipulates that the knowledge is stored in human's mind in the form of network. In the network, the knowledge units are closely united to each other and no redundant information exists. The form of network is convenient for both the storage and the information search (陈忠华等,2004).Informativity theory was proposed by de Beaugrande in 1980. Informativity refers to the extent to which the textual occurrences are expectable to the readers. de Beaugrande and Dressler classified informativity into three categories: the first degree, the second degree and the third degree. The order is an inverse ratio to predictability. Too low informativity makes the discourse boring, while too high informativity brings obscurity. For the stability and the communication dynamic of a discourse, the normal one is around the range of second-order informativity.Reflected on linguistic representation, under the control of cognitive economy principle and informativity theory, some information must be deleted; at the same time, the stability and continuity of discourse should be guaranteed. Through the analysis of discourse production and comprehension, it is found that common knowledge and personal cognition play an important part in the interpretation of missing links. Through the common knowledge, the authors can make a prediction about the readers'comprehension ability and select some information to be implicit. In spite of the missing links, the readers are able to fill up the gaps by the world knowledge. Nevertheless, the interpretation of missing links cannot be the same to everyone, for the differences of personal cognition.The most distinctive stylistic features of news discourse are its conciseness and rich informativeness. For the specific features of news writing, missing links are rather heavily found in news discourse. The cognitive analysis of missing links in news discourse can help us to study the cognitive mechanism in missing links. Through literature review, it is found that, up to now, the study of missing links is not much documented both at home and abroad. The study of missing links in news discourse from a cognitive perspective is even less. The research on missing links in news discourse with a cognitive approach is the highlight of this thesis.