INTERPRETING HIDDEN FUTURAL MEANINGS FROM THE POSITION OF REFERETIAL THEORY

Abstract

The article investigates the phenomenon of implicitness and examines various means of temporal location of a future action in the English discourse from the standpoint of the theory of reference and functional semantics. In the present research we analyze leaders/ editorials from The Economist and The Guardian, on the basis of which we set out to explore discourse units pertaining to different levels (primarily utterance and supra-phrasal unit); within this corpus temporal characteristics of separate language forms and structures with future meaning are hence established through componential analysis. In the research we also endeavor to propose a two-stage cognitive model of generating and interpreting linguistic devices that implicitly render the sense of future temporality. As is shown in the article, semantic conclusion concerning the implicit temporal peculiarities of a future action is drawn by the addressee with account of the point of time and the point of reference of the written text. The research suggests an explanation of the possible incongruence between the input presuppositions and the output implications in the process of inferring the temporal location of a future action. The analysis of different implicit future structures is conducted regardless of the modal component of the meaning of verb forms. The importance of modality is recognized, but in-depth analysis of the aspect is reserved as a starting point of further research.