Realization of Pragmatic Function of Informing of Reporting Category (as Exemplified in English and Russian)

Abstract

This article considers the pragmatic potential of the reporting category as a core component of the indirect evidentiality field. The purpose of the article is to determine methods of realization of the pragmatic function of reporting category informing. The article analyses examples taken from mass-media programs about information technologies news and determines 2 analysing strategies for pragmatic potential. The example analysis demonstrated that common pragmatic function of informing is a priori specific for mass-media news programs; in this case, examples of informing about latest news and updates in science and technology. The essence of informing process suggests retelling of another’s information or the realization of the reporting category. In English, anonymous sources are represented less within the informing process and the category of inference is used. In the Russian language, information is often given as the fruits of labour, the achievement, the activity result of particular subjects who are suggested to be sources of information.