Alternating Interpretation and the Ostensive-inferential Communication

This paper tries to explain the relationship between alternating interpretation and ostensive-inferential communication. It points out that an interpreter needs to make manifest to the hearer what s/he has inferred from the speaker so as to achieve successful communication. It proposes that alternating interpretation is itself an ostensive-inferential communicative activity. And it emphasizes that an interpreter needs to infer so as to understand the utterance produced by the speaker and the speaker intention behind that utterance. Hence it provides a new perspective for further studies in this particular area.