Textual explicitness and pragmatic inferencing: The case of ‘hypothetical-real’ contrasts in written instructional scientific discourse in English

Abstract

This article is concerned with the nature and ‘effectiveness’ of ‘explicitness’ in the signalling of relations in written discourses. I shall first examine what is meant by ‘explicitness’ and how explicitness may be linguistically realised, and shall consider whether and how different degrees of explicitness may render discourses more or less ‘effective’ for readers. Relations between features of discourses and inferential tendencies of readers can be clarified through empirical study. I present an instance of such research, carried out at the University of Botswana, concerning a type of contrast found quite widely in academic discourse. The research is in an applied linguistic perspective. It investigates problems of readers of English as a second language in identifying ‘Hypothetical—Real’ contrasts, which apparently conflict with widespread inferential tendencies on the part of these readers. This article describes studies of two textual variables: the ‘explicitness’ of contrastive signalling, and the ‘sequence’ in which contrasting Hypothetical and Real terms are introduced in texts. Findings show that subjects' responses were susceptible only to the ‘explicitness’ variable.