Now you see it, now you don't: Literature and the art of semantic prestidigitation

Abstract

Rule relating to or constituting generic categories have often been considered to belong to a second order semiotic system, based upon the linguistic code. This paper argues that the knowledge of such rules should be viewed as a part of the speaker's linguistic competence. Evidence for the necessity of including generic rules and considering the notion of genre in an integrated linguistic theory is provided by the following observations: (1) Grammars of natural languages comprise rules of both general and non-general applicability. If they extend to the textual level, they will necessarily present rules functioning in the derivation of some texts but not of others. These textual rules of limited applicability divide the set of all texts into distinct categories, and form the basis of a genre theory. (2) Even within the framework of a sentence grammar, reference to generic categories must be made in order to state the conditions of use of certain operations. For instance, the article deletion obtaining in place chicken in oven is allowed in recipes, but forbidden in laws or in essays.On the basis of this evidence, the paper surveys the various types of rules necessary in a genre theory, examines the problems of their formulation in the framework of a semantically based transformational text grammar, and offers a discussion of their hermeneutic function.