The Communicative-Intentional Nature of Substandard Verbs Denoting Mental Activity: Linguopragmatic Modelling Based on Speech Act Theory
Abstract
This article examines the communicative-intentional nature of substandard verbs and verb-like expressions denoting mental activity from the perspective of speech act theory. Mental-activity verbs express cognitive processes such as thinking, understanding, guessing, remembering, doubting, realizing, evaluating, and failing to understand. However, in real communication these meanings are not expressed only through neutral literary verbs such as think, know, understand, remember or Uzbek o‘ylamoq, bilmoq, tushunmoq, eslamoq. Speakers often use colloquial, slang-like, idiomatic, metaphorical, and socially marked expressions such as get it, figure out, reckon, suss out, wrap one’s head around and Uzbek kallasi yetmoq, miyasiga kirmoq, bosh qotirmoq, fahmi yetmoq. The article argues that such forms are communicatively powerful because they express not only mental states but also speaker intention, interpersonal positioning, epistemic stance, politeness, irony, solidarity, criticism, and emotional evaluation. Drawing on speech act theory, the study models these verbs according to their locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary functions. The findings demonstrate that substandard mental-activity verbs function as pragmatic tools for managing knowledge, softening assertions, requesting clarification, expressing disagreement, constructing informal discourse, and influencing the listener’s interpretation.