Gradability Of Pragmatic Negation:From The Perspective Of The Grammar|—Pragmaties Interaction

The term “Pragmatic negation” was first proposed by Chinese scholar Shen Jiaxuan, who used this term to represent “metalinguistic negation” put forward by American linguist Laurence Horn. However, Shen’s definition causes disputes in later studies on pragmatic negation. Some scholars, such as Wang Zhiying and He Chunyan, propose that pragmatic negation should be considered as a broad concept and include metalinguistic negation. The scope of pragmatic negation needs further explorations. Besides, even though there are studies concerning some kinds of pragmatic negation, such as, metalinguistic negation, presupposition negation, etc, pragmatic negation are rarely explored as a whole from the perspective of the grammar-pragmatics interaction.This thesis aims to find out how pragmatic negation is manifested and characterized from the grammar-pragmatics interaction perspective. The reason for conducting this study from the grammar-pragmatics interaction perspective is that specific instances of language use are grammatical as well as pragmatic. Pragmatic study cannot leave out grammar, and vice versa. Data of this thesis are selected from an American situation comedy Big Bang Theory. Altogether more than 300 pragmatic negations are collected. These cases of pragmatic negations are categorized from the perspective of explicitness/implicitness and code/inference.Through observing and analyzing data from the grammar-pragmatics interaction perspective, it is found that pragmatic negation is manifested in six categories, namely,(1) explicit coded negation,(2) less explicit coded negation,(3) implicit coded negation,(4) explicit inferential negation,(5) implicit inferential negation and(6) more implicit inferential negation. These negations demonstrate the gradability, as a general property, of pragmatic negation. From(1) to(6), the interpretation of negative meaning relies on the increasing role of pragmatics. Reversely, from(6) to(1), the interpretation of negative meaning depends to some extent on the increasing role of grammar. Thus, the gradability of pragmatic negation is manifested as a dynamic continuum. As(3) and(4) are in the crossing point of explicitness/implicitness and code/inference, the ranking of(3) and(4) may change in different cases.