All linguistic models admit that language functions both as an informational and an interactive system. At the same time an overwhelming majority of mainstream linguistic models, including cognitively oriented ones, occupy themselves with various mechanisms of information processing and consider the interactive component as some sort of additional topping on the informational substance of a message. However, if we admit that communication is a goal-driven activity, then study of the ways with which we reach our goal in communication, of the ability of natural language speakers to communicate more than what is explicitly stated and to do it while maintaining interpersonal harmony and complying with sociocultural norms, lies in the heart of any comprehensive linguistic model. And pragmatics, as a study of an ability to understand another speaker's intended meaning, becomes much more central and topical for modern linguistics.
Pragmatics deals with intended and implicit meanings. Still, there is normally some evidence of such meanings in discourse. Most occurrences deal with the use of discourse markers, or particles, prosody, non-verbal communication. But in all cases, our ability to interpret these signals is based on various types of data accumulated through social and cultural norms, knowledge of the basic principles of the outer world functioning, and personal experiences, i.e. - memories. In this paper, I provide various examples of how communication success or failure depend on the way the communication participants use their shared knowledge. Another related topic deals with the issue of how beliefs and values of an individual and a community can be extracted from the discourse through its linguistic configurations. Narrative and discourse analyses applied to the two corpora of personal stories will serve as analytical tools to uncover and reconstruct the meanings intended by the participants of the communicative event.
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