Pragmatic obligatoriness revisited
- DOI
- 10.5922/2225-5346-2025-3-2
- Pages
- 30-39
Abstract
This article examines the phenomenon of pragmatic obligatoriness. For illustrative purposes, it discusses Russian discourse markers—particularly the particles ‘vdrug’ and ‘razve’. An expression is considered pragmatically obligatory in a given communicative
situation if its absence, where the situation calls for it, may lead to unintended implicatures. Pragmatically obligatory discourse markers may occasionally appear in translation even when no direct stimulus is present in the source text. Special attention is given to the use of proper names and the act of telling jokes. The article explores the pragmatic principle governingproper names through the concept of the mental dossier, arguing that the introduction of a name should be accompanied by a description of its referent. In fictional texts, violation of this principle may produce specific artistic effects. The article also differentiates between the telling of jokes and related speech genres. It argues that the introduction of a forthcoming canned joke into discourse is necessary, and it examines certain clichés commonly used to preface such jokes—clichés that are never employed to introduce spontaneous jokes.