A Visual Analysis of the Development Prospects of Implicature in China and Abroad Based on CiteSpace Bibliometrics

Go Indun ORCID: 0009-0006-1235-5783 PhD in Philology Postgraduate student; Oriental Institute - School of Regional and International Studies; Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, Fefu Campus str., building D, room 913 go.in@dvfu.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

With the development of the digital age, new values and cultural elements are increasingly permeating everyday communication, leading to a trend towards more indirect ways of conveying emotions and intentions. First, in a complex social context, people tend to avoid misunderstandings by choosing softer language tools. Secondly, an increase in the level of education contributes to the development of the ability to take into account the context of communication and the emotions of interlocutors, which forms a highly contextual society.

This has also attracted the attention of linguists, for example, to research in the field of indirect speech acts^[22], euphemisms, metaphors and other stylistic techniques ^{[12, 24]}, implicit communication strategies ^[23], as well as the classification of hints ^{[1, 6]}.However, P. Grice's theory of implicatures plays a key role as one of the methodological foundations of the above-mentioned studies. Through the analysis of violations of the principle of cooperation, Grice systematically revealed the ways of expressing the subtext. Obviously, this theory has a high representativeness in the research of indirect expressions.

Although the theory of implicatures retains its importance, in recent years their research has shown a downward trend. This is primarily due to the fact that monitoring the intentions of the addressee is extremely difficult. Intentions are often deeply related to the addressee's psychoemotional state, cultural context, and personal experience, which makes them difficult for the addressee to interpret. In addition, verifying the recipient's understanding is also difficult. Different people can interpret the same implicit meaning in different ways based on their own cognitive frameworks. These difficulties have led to stagnation in implicature research, where there are practically no breakthroughs in methods and theoretical innovations.

It can be assumed that research in the field of implicatures in their current state is difficult to meet new communication needs. Thus, the study of the prospects of implicature research becomes extremely relevant. This will not only help to overcome the existing limitations in scientific research, but also help to better understand and purposefully regulate the mechanisms of people's communicative behavior in modern society.

Theoretical basis

Implicature is an important concept in pragmatic linguistics, first put forward by the American linguistic philosopher H.P. Grice in 1975^[3]. The theory of implicature is aimed at analyzing the implied meaning expressed by the speaker in the process of communication, that is, deep intentions or information that go beyond the literal meaning^{[9, 10, 11]}. According to Grice's theory, implicature arises as a result of observing or violating the four maxims of the principle of cooperation (the principle of quantity, the principle of quality, the principle of relevance, and the principle of mode of expression)^[2]. These maxims require the speaker to provide sufficient information, make true statements, put forward relevant content, and express himself clearly and concisely in communication^[7]. When a speaker intentionally violates these maxims, the listener can deduce the speaker's true intentions through contextual interpretation and reasoning, and this is the process of inferring an implication. An implicature can be divided into a conventional implicature and a private implicature. The conventional implicature is based on the universal rules of the principle of cooperation, while the private implicature is associated with specific conclusions in a certain context^[4].

The study of implicature not only helps to understand the implied meaning in language communication, but is also important for areas such as language teaching, translation, etc. Through a deep understanding and mastery of the implicature inference mechanism, people can more effectively overcome cultural barriers, conduct smooth intercultural communication, and achieve more accurate and effective communication in the transmission process. information^[8].

Although the theory of "implicature" was proposed earlier, it still has a research value. In this paper, we use the Cite Space software (version 6.4.R1) as a data analysis tool to analyze the current status of research in China and the West. In addition, we found data confirming the direction of research in this work. Cite Space is a visual literature analysis software developed by Chen Chaomei that can be used to analyze and predict popular research trends, the history of evolutionary development, and research trends.^{[13, 14, 15, 20]}.

The research method

The CNKI and WOS databases were used as sources for data collection, and “Implicature” was used as a subject term for in–depth search. The data collection period was set as 2000-2024 for Chinese and 2007-2024 for English (including regional subscriptions). The type of literature is “Article", sources are CSSCI (database of citation indexes of Chinese social scientific articles) and SSCI (database of citation indexes of social scientific articles). After manual selection, 228 articles in Chinese and 269 articles in English were received. The data was imported into Cite Space in the “Refworks” and “Plain text file” formats, after which the appropriate parameters were set.The time slice was set to 1 year^[18], the K-value was set to 15, and the map cropping methods were set to Pathfinder, which can make the output more accurate (unique solution)^[16]. Nodes are specified as keywords, and after editing, a visualized diagram of common keywords and phrases is obtained. In addition, we also conducted a keyword cluster analysis and conducted statistics on the number of published articles for each year in order to comprehensively discuss the situation of implicature research in China and abroad.

Results and discussion

Visual keyword analysis

Keyword analysis provides an idea of the current content and directions of research topic development. Based on Chinese-language articles (Fig. 1), it was found that "implicature", "principle of cooperation" and "pragmatics" are the most common. The change in the color of the growth rings from cold to warmer indicates the continued relevance of these terms. At the same time, relatively new concepts are also being observed, such as "pragmatic reasoning", "theory of associations", and "politeness", which, although they are receiving some development, still remain peripheral.

Keyword filtering by frequency (> 10) and centrality (> 0,1) ^{[21, 25, 27]} It allowed us to identify the four most significant elements (Table 1). The greatest frequency and centrality are characteristic of "implicature", "the principle of cooperation" and "pragmatics", which first appeared in 2000-2002. Meanwhile, "post-Grice pragmatics", which has been active since 2008, has not yet taken a dominant position, indicating that Chinese studies are experiencing a "bottleneck" in terms of expanding the theoretical framework.

We analyzed articles in English by the same parameters and compiled a visualized scheme of common keywords and phrases from English-language articles (Fig. 2). The analysis of English-language articles reveals a wider thematic diversity. In addition to traditional terms ("conversational implicature", "scalar implicature", "language", "pragmatics"), there has been an increased interest in factors related to the addressee's cognitive characteristics ("adults", "children", "comprehension"). This reflects the trend towards interdisciplinary synthesis (psycholinguistic, social aspects) and a shift in focus to the listener. As can be seen from Table 2, "comprehension" occupies a central place in the keyword network, which confirms the growing attention to speech perception and interpretation of the implication by the addressee.

Thus, in the research of Chinese linguistics, implicature is mainly studied through the prism of pragmatics and the principle of cooperation, which limits the development of interdisciplinary approaches and the introduction of practical innovations. In foreign studies, on the contrary, although the pragmatic context remains the central focus of foreign research, researchers are increasingly beginning to pay attention to the socio-psychological and cognitive aspects associated with the recipient's perception of the implication. This demonstrates a gradual shift in focus from producing speech to perceiving it.

Cluster keyword analysis

The graphical keyword clustering scheme generated by Citespace can visually display the specific content of research in a visual form, helping us quickly understand the overall structure and direction of a particular research area. According to the visualized CNKI keyword and phrase cluster scheme (Fig. 3), Modularity Q is 0.8858 (Q > 0.3), Mean Silhouette is 0.9391 (S > 0.7), so the clustering result has a high degree of reliability ^{[5, 19, 26]}. To make the results more representative, we also established the "Log Likelihood Ratio LLR" algorithm, while the word frequency (size) should be greater than 20 ^[17], as a result of which a table of the five leading clusters was compiled (Table 3).

Cluster analysis (fig. 3, Table. 3) The Chinese Studies (CNKI) showed that, in addition to cluster No. 10 ("completed situations"), all other clusters belong to the field of pragmatics, which is closely related to implicature. The most significant groups include "the principle of cooperation", "politeness" and "implicature" as key components of the study. At the same time, the three leading clusters have a frequency of keyword mentions above 20 and are limited to the period 2008-2012. This suggests that in the Chinese scientific environment, research on implicature is concentrated mainly within the framework of pragmatic linguistics and is characterized by a small chronological variation.

According to the cluster analysis of English-language sources (WOS, fig. 4, Table. 4), research on implicature covers a wider range of disciplines, from pragmatics (conversational implicature, scalar implicature) to cognitive linguistics (conjunction fallacy, subjective probability) and logical semantics (indicative conditionals). The strongest clusters were noted in 2014, and mainly relate to pragmatics, and since 2015, cognitive issues have been gaining momentum. Despite the active growth of the cognitive field, pragmatics retains a leading role in foreign research.

To summarize, it should be noted that research in China focuses mainly on the pragmatic aspects of implicature, and their time range is quite limited. In contrast, foreign works are characterized by an interdisciplinary approach, encompassing pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, and logical semantics. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the cognitive approach in the English-speaking environment, but the pragmatic direction remains the leading one.

Statistical analysis of the number of published articles by year

To identify the general dynamics and current state of work on implicature both in China and abroad, a statistical assessment of the number of scientific articles for the period from 2007 to 2024 was carried out. (Fig. 5). Since 2008, China has seen an increase in research on implicature, reaching three peaks (a maximum of 24 articles in 2009, followed by a peak in 2012 of 20 articles). After that, the interest of Chinese linguists in this topic gradually decreases, and by 2024 the number of papers is reduced to four.

There is a more stable trend in foreign studies. In 2014, 2017, and 2022, there was a significant increase in interest in implicature, partly due to the increased synthesis of pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. From 2017 to 2022, the annual number of publications ranged from 11 to 31, demonstrating the steady relevance of the topic. Nevertheless, by 2024, there was a slight decrease abroad (up to 14 articles), which indicates a likely decrease in interest in the topic of implicature at the global level.

It can be noted that in China, interest in implicature is gradually decreasing. At the same time, in Western countries, despite a slight decrease in activity, this area continues to demonstrate relative stability and demand. The differences in the pace and nature of research on implicature in the Chinese and Western scientific traditions indicate the importance of further analysis of conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of the phenomenon.

Conclusion

As a result of the bibliometric analysis (2000-2024 for the Chinese-speaking corpus and 2007-2024 for the English-speaking corpus), the following main conclusions were obtained.

The typology and functional features of the implicatures show that in Chinese linguistics the main focus is on the pragmatic perspective (the principle of cooperation, pragmatic mechanisms), while in foreign works the emphasis is on cognitive linguistics and logical semantics, which contributes to the expansion of understanding of the hidden meanings of speech.

The dynamics of publications and interdisciplinary connections indicate that in China, the peak of interest in implicature occurred in 2008-2012, after which there was a noticeable decline. In English-language studies, on the contrary, interest in implicature remains relatively stable, which is largely due to the widespread use of interdisciplinary approaches (for example: psycholinguistics, sociology). However, in recent years, there has been a slight decrease in publication activity, which may be due to saturation of the research base or a reorientation of interest to related topics.

The prospects for further development indicate the need for more active experimental research in China, as well as for strengthening interdisciplinary areas focused on studying the recipient's perception of implicature. In the foreign environment, despite a partial decrease in publication activity, the interdisciplinary vector remains, which ensures relative stability and opens up additional opportunities for further development of the topic.

The recommendations are to expand the empirical research base through quantitative methods (in particular: eye-tracking, neuro-linguistic tests), as well as to strengthen interdisciplinary links integrating the achievements of psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics and sociology. It is equally important to take into account cultural and linguistic specifics and compare Chinese and foreign materials in terms of pragmatic norms and communication strategies. This approach will allow us to go beyond exclusively linguistic analysis and will contribute to the development of applied methods in the field of translation, language teaching and intercultural communication.