ABSTRACT
In order to account for the triggering of the interpretive process, we must assume at the outset that the production and reception of discourse … obey a very general rule of pertinence, according to which if a discourse exists there must be a reason for it. So that when at first glance a given discourse does not obey this rule, the receiver’s spontaneous reaction is to determine whether the discourse might not reveal its pertinence through some particular manipulation. “Interpretation” … is what we call this manipulation. 1
