Text types and varying degrees of interpretative constraint

Abstract

This paper attempts to identify linguistic regularity underlying text-internal type variation by analyzing three different text types in relevance-theoretic, pragmatic perspective, and suggests a unitary text-classification criterion. It is assumed that text type variation is a matter of how tightly or loosely the text producer constrains the text interpretation by controlling the verbal givenness of information. This assumption is tested through the analysis of text interpretation processes focusing on what types of utterances and referring expressions are used in each different text type (academic text, news text, poetic text) following the relevance-theoretic account of utterance type variation. The result of the analysis shows that a certain degree of interpretative constraint at the utterance level is kept constant throughout a text and that text types vary according to the degrees of interpretative constraint. Such a finding provides a theoretical basis for explaining how text types form a continuum for practical relevance.