Toward a Comprehensive Model of the Pragmatization of Lexical Uniqueness with Reference to Iraqi Arabic

Abstract

This study attempts to propose a comprehensive model to analyze the pragmatization of lexically unique utterances. The previous three models, idiomaticity, social construction, and pragmatic generalization are viewed and modified as stages of the proposed comprehensive model. Additionally, certain core observations have been introduced such as the cognitive aspects of pragmatics and the conceptualization of new contexts. It is argued that there is a new type of conversational implicature introduced by the present study. This is referred to as “coded implicature” due to fact that it is generated within a very narrow context that could be only between the speaker and the listener for the first time. Based on the coded implicature, new contexts are produced, utterances are conventionalized to be interpreted and socially conceptualized and finally pragmatically generalized.