Interpretation process

  • You are given a description;
  • You may or may not be given instructions on how to read it;
  • If you are given instructions, they may be true or false (telling the truth or misleading about how to correctly read the description).

Regardless of whether you were given instructions or not, you always have elements to rely on for interpretation:

  • Linguistic context. A broader context than the description itself, and even broader than the instructions for reading the description formulated in a meta-language. This usually requires a meta-language in relation to the meta-language, but from there you can assess the credibility of the description and the credibility of the instructions.
  • Non-linguistic context — the situation in which all this is happening and your ideas about what would be appropriate to say and do in such a situation.
  • Pragmatic goal, yours and the interlocutor's. When we think about it, we consider not only the role interests, preferences, and intentions, but also the other communicative goals of the agent as a whole.

The point is that people are not always rational agents acting in their conscious interests.

That is, often they do not play their role clearly enough for us to draw conclusions about the interest, preference, and intention of that role. In life, it turns out quite blurry - "it seems this person is in this role, seems to want this...". Often people themselves do not fully understand what role they are playing and what strategy they want to follow. Therefore, we pay attention not only to the stated goal of communication but also to the others. Where can we get them from? We will thoroughly study this in the third semester in the rhetoric course, for now, you can use the methods you already have.