Meaning and Sense as the Bedrock of English Discourse Functional Space

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of correlation between the concepts ‘meaning’ and ‘sense’, peculiarities of their formation and their role in the process of developing integral functional space of discourse. The objective of the article is to determine how certain linguistic means create meanings, which factors contribute to their transformation into sense, what exactly provides representation and further interpretation of sense.Considering the essence of meaning, the author analyzes its types, specifies the extent of interaction and interdependence between them, determines the factors promoting transformation and modification of one type into another which clarifies what helps actualize meanings of different levels. The author singles out semantic, semantic-and-syntactic, logical-and-semantic, and pragmatic meanings as the principle meanings underlying formation of discourse integral sense. The analysis of discursive sense formation as a multi-level hierarchical system based on complex interaction and interdependence of meanings of different types makes this study relevant and topical.The study identifies optimal ways of sense creation and its adequate representation, of enhancing communication efficiency and achieving the communicative goal of a speech act. The author emphasizes the importance of the choice of linguistic means and the role of context in this process, the significant influence of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors; this directly impacts meanings formation, their transformation into sense which, in turn, forms the bedrock of discourse functional space.The study methodology combines elements of systems analysis, descriptive analysis, discourse analysis, pragmasemantic analysis, component analysis.The author comes to the conclusion that discourse sense space, being situationally conditioned, operates more with sense than meanings. The sense of discourse is not reducible to the sum of the meanings that form it. Meaning and sense are categories that are formed in the course and as a result of communicative activity and cognitive processes; therefore, the effectiveness of