Publications

Publication details [#26561]

Sinclair, Melinda. 1993. Are academic texts really decontextualized and fully explicit ? A pragmatic perspective on the role of context in written coomunication. Text 13 (4) : 529–558.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
De Gruyter Mouton

Annotation

This paper rejects the view of a fundamental difference between speech and (some kinds of) text regarding the role of context in their interpretation, as the context that matters in utterance interpretation is in fact a set of assumptions in the hearer's and readers' mind. It is also demonstrated that academic texts' meaning is not fully explicit, but depends upon readers' contextual assumptions.