International Journal of Philology

This article deals with oxymoronic implicatures inferring in the English and Ukrainian languages from the logical, pragmatic and comparative aspects. Implicature is a key pragmatic element in the process of communication that shows the differences between what is said from what is meant. Oxymoronic constructions are a conscious combination of sharply contrasting words, that but in fact together they convey a new concept. Oxymoronic implicature is the essence of an indirect statement, in which two or more semantically incompatible concepts are combined, creating a new contradictory thought. The methods of formal logics and model creating are used in order to infer oxymoronic implicatures. The logical operations of implication, negation and conjunction have been applied to infer implicatures from oxymorons in the English and Ukrainian languages. The logical and pragmatic model of oxymoronic implicatures can be modeled as conjunction of the antecedent A with the negation of the antecedent ~А from which we could get the implicit result or the value of the consequent B: (А&~А)→B. A logical and pragmatic algorithm for oxymoronic implicature inferring which consists of five steps has been elaborated

implicature; oxymoronic implicature; logical and pragmatic model; logical implication; conjunction; negation; logical and pragmatic model; implicature inferring