SAINFO Model
The first step is the sainfo (speech act-information) analysis of discourses from the information-pragmatics perspective. This step is the starting point of analyzing discourses in the process of discourse analysis. Li (2011) proposes that a speech act mingles with an information unit and he formulates a sainfo model which can be comprehended as a pragmatic and functional approach to information analysis. Each information unit has manageable parameters for further cognitive analysis. Each information unit in a sense marks a new chunk or seam of information with respect to the previous one and obviously shapes a new mental space (Hougaard & Oakley, 2008). Thus information units in sainfos lay a foundation for further mapping and integration analysis. As pragmatic factors trespass informational and cognitive facets, the analysis will finally come back to the pragmatic level and elucidate how information functions are fulfilled by speech acts in sainfos.
The next step is mapping and integration analysis of sainfos in discourses. Based on the analysis of information units, mental configurations can be shaped with the information flow of the discourse. Mental spaces of three parties’ discourses are linked together by three mappings (Fauconnier, 2002). Information constituents are mapped each other and integrated in the blending spaces, which leads to further analysis of communicators’ mental tracings and intension.
Mapping and integration analysis is done based on the examination of the parameters. Discourse management such as Base Space, Viewpoint Space and Focus Space shift and change with the ongoing information flow in a given discourse based on the established mental configurations established. Through the optimality principles that govern discourse management in this phase, we can judge how pragmatic functions can be fulfilled by different types of speech acts in sainfos. In addition, discourse management can offer foundations for further contextual framing and vital relation analysis.
Contextual framing is crucial to mental space configuration. Fauconnier (2001) admits that mental spaces set up in this manner are internally structured by frames and cognitive models (ICMs). When mental spaces of sainfos are set up in configuration, certain elements are projected onto spaces from ICMs through schematic mapping. With the information flow in a discourse, mental configuration changes with different mappings being projected. Due to the optimality principles such as Optimization and Floating, only elements and structures in an information unit with internal incompatibilities cannot be transferred through spaces in configuration. Thus pragmatic intentions of sainfos can be drawn from the propagated structures and elements through cross-space mappings (Fauconnier, 2001). That is to say, a correspondence between the source and the target domains allows abstract schemas to be extracted, transferred or modified for the purpose of speech acts in sainfos. This demonstrates that deep cognitive analysis should float up to sainfo. Thus, framed roles and positions of the communicators will offer convincing explanations.
Vital relations are crucial to the mapping analysis between input spaces in integration configuration (Oakley, 2008). Within a discourse, domain and domain types, e.g., movies, countries, beliefs etc., which correspond to information knots of sainfos, are singled out. The range of application of a matching configuration will be typically understood pragmatically to be limited to spaces associated with a certain domain or domain types. Vital relations between cross-space mappings will determine the quality of the blending space, thus exerting influence on the functional fulfillment of sainfos. Therefore, the analytical route shows that vital relations of the communicators will shed light on how a certain discourse has been shaped in different settings and offer discursive devices in different settings.
