Chapter VII

7.3. THE NOTION OF PRAGMATIC INTENTION. TYPES OF PRAGMATIC INTENTION
The pragmatic study of literary discourse is also concerned with
the problems of impact and perception as the two sides of communication.
Only taken together do they ensure an integral process of communication. Impact and perception are closely interrelated and interdependent as “two sides of the medal”. A crucial role in analyzing the effectiveness of impact and perception belongs to the notion of pragmatic intention. Pragmatic intention is understood as verba lized in the text the addresser’s deliberate intention to exert infl uence on the addressee with the aim to cause some reconstruction in his world picture (Наер, 1984:16).
The general pragmatic intention of literary discourse is an aesthetic influence on the reader. However, in concrete situations the types of pragmatic intentions vary, and so does their impact. The pragmatic intention is an organizing principle of the text. It predetermines the choice of language means, structural and semantic peculiarities of the text. Therefore pragmatic analysis aims to fi nd language units which explicitly or implicitly make pragmatic intentions recognizable. According to the type of pragmatic intentions the forms of its language utilization vary. The effectiveness of impact and perception also depends
on the type of pragmatic intentions. In this respect differentiation of pragmatic intentions, hierarchical classifi cation of their types seem to be of paramount importance.
Accepting the assumption that pragmatic intentions are materialized in the language units, we defi ne the type of pragmatic intention proceeding from: a) the analysis of all the parameters of a verbal sign, the ways of its introduction, organization and reorganization in the discourse; b) verbalized in the discourse direct or indirect indication to a pragmatic intention; c) indication to the addressee’s verbal and non-verbal reaction. The analysis of the language material makes it possible to defi ne the main types of pragmatic intentions in the literary discourse. They are as follows:
● the pragmatic intention “to attract attention” (attention-compelling intention);
● the pragmatic intention “to interest the reader”;
● the pragmatic intention “to exert an emotional impact”;
● the pragmatic intention “to activize knowledge structures” relevant
to the conceptual information;
● the pragmatic intention “to stimulate the addressee’s creativity”;
● the pragmatic intention “to represent the conceptual world
picture” (Ашурова, 1991).
The differentiation of these intentions is relative to some extent. Actually, language usage is characterized by a much more complicated,
polyfunctional character, and it is conditioned not only by one, but by many interconnected pragmatic intentions. Practically not a single pragmatic intention is used separately. The above mentioned pragmatic intentions are enumerated in accordance with an increasing degree of their complexity and aesthetic value. That means that every pragmatic intention includes the subsequent ones in different combinations. The pragmatic intention aimed to represent the conceptual world picture is ranked as the most global one. It embraces all other types of pragmatic intentions and to some extent coincides with the function of literary discourse to produce an aesthetic infl uence on the reader.
Emphasizing the fact of close relationships of these pragmatic intentions, we, nevertheless, adhere to the opinion that they should be discussed separately. There are some reasons for it. Firstly, the scientific
approach to the problem requires a detailed and differential description of the discussed phenomenon. Secondly, there is a possibility to outline
a dominant type of a pragmatic intention in a concrete communicative situation. Thirdly, it is explained by some psychological peculiarities of perception. According to some linguistic investigations, perception is an extensive process characterized by the hierarchy of different levels.
Physiologically, it is explained by the fact that perception as a process goes through various sections of nervous system, and manifests itself in the gradual transition from a low sensory level to a high semantic level (Лурия, 1969:24). As regards text perception, the principle of hierarchy displays the gradual transition from the perception of the form, that is the language organization of the text, to the understanding of the semantic content and aesthetic value. Such complex and consecutive character of perception complies with a general line of cognition: from
the simple to the complex, from the superfi cial to the deep. It would be reasonable now to consider each of the above-mentioned pragmatic intentions and discuss those verbal signals which play a dominant role in their realization.