Analysing Inference

In the article “Analyse inference - and ethos-implicature in particular” I discuss and define the notions of inference, presuppositions, premises and implicature as notions of what sort of information texts carry between the lines, i.e. beneath the surface level. Through this discussion I hope and think it may be possible to use the notions more precisely. By way of clarifying the concept I find it appropriate to distinguish between statistical, semantic, logical and pragmatic inference. I especially focus how inferred information contributes to the constitution of the author’s ethos. As an example, I analyse (and criticise) ethos-implicature in a commentary article in a Norwegian newspaper. Tools for the analysis are both from argumentation theory and stylistics.