Toward a Coherence-Driven Model of Language: Ambiguity, Pragmatics, and the Nullification Principle

Spoken English operates under pressures of speed, cognitive economy, and social negotiation, regularly sacrificing grammatical precision in favor of coherence-based interpretation. Building on insights from pragmatics (Grice, Horn, Levinson), dialogism (Bakhtin), and epistemic coherence theories, this paper argues that linguistic simplification is not a deviation but a structural feature of natural communication. The Theory of Non-Knowledge (TNK) provides the epistemic ground for this phenomenon: if justification is impossible, linguistic forms do not require justification either; they must only preserve coherence in context. To formalize this mechanism, the paper proposes the Minimal-Ambiguity Simplification (MAS) Formula, which states that speakers simplify linguistic structure until the point at which further simplification would break coherence. Through analyses of modal collapse, complementizer reduction, aspectual flattening, mood erosion, and morphological simplification, the study shows that ambiguity is acceptable when it remains coherence-preserving. The paper concludes that grammar pedagogy should shift from rule-based instruction to coherence-based instruction, teaching learners to evaluate linguistic choices by their capacity to maintain interpretive stability rather than by prescriptive correctness.