Pragmatic determination of as if (akoby) in ego-related contexts

Abstract

Abstract The impetus to write this paper was an analysis of the expression as if (akoby) as a component of the “equivalence” principle and the determination of its legitimacy as a component of the “behavior” principle. The study is focused on the search for further connections between the verbal behavior of the speaker and the linguistic aspects of as if (akoby) because it is used as a manifestation of motivated, ego-related and assertive verbal behavior. As if (akoby) can be viewed as: (a) a component of the principle of verbal behavior that attributes an egocentric meaning to the speaker’s behavior; (b) an egocentric expression of the hypotaxis with an implicit speaker and the semantics of circumstantial and characteristic contexts; (c) a pragmatic marker of the speaker’s ego-related interpretation of facts. Interpretation, which is grasped at the following two levels, is the methodological framework of the monitored aspects: (i) in the sense of the ego-related evaluation of a fact or event by the speaker, i.e. in the sense of participatory interpretation, and (ii) in the sense of explaining the verbal behavior of the speaker, i.e. in the sense of searching for the motives, intentions and goals that form the preconditions for his/her verbal behavior.