Pragmatic processing of textual information: application of two theoretical approaches to a text

Abstract

Based on the common principle that communication is only relevant when there is equilibrium between the information that is somehow shared by the speakers and new information, a significant number of linguistic theories have been proposed in order to explain how that happens. This work analyzes the applicability of two pragmatic approaches –Reinhart’s (1981), and Sperber’s (1995)— in the distribution of enunciations in the text “Prato Fino” (Veja, 1998). The results suggest that considering their theoretical principles, both approaches are successful.