Functional specificity of explanation in expository texts: a pragmatic model and elaboration principles

The article provides a functional interpretation of explanation. It is based on the principles of Linguistic Pragmatics and Functional Linguistics. Explanation is analysed from two perspectives: as a communicative act and as a two-part discursive structure. The com­mu­nicative act of explanation is characterised by a perlocutionary goal of making the reader un­derstand the properties of an entity. This understanding focuses on the properties that are un­clear or not obvious to the reader. The perlocutionary goal defines the key feature of the ex­pla­nation act, which uses diverse verbal tools to clarify the properties of an entity. The article pro­poses a performative model of the explanation act, which outlines the mechanism of constructing an explanation and the pragmatic conditions for its success. Taking these conditions into account, the discursive structure of explanation is examined, focusing on the principles of information unfolding and the content parameters of its components.