Towards a theory of expectation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show a cognitive semantic investigation on the idea of expectation, defined as a mental construct which organizes the thinking and works as specific motivation in the process of communication. Expectation is an idea that may be created in the speaker's or in the listener's mind. It may be verbalized or not. Its semantic information may not be realized in real life, bringing frustration to communication. This study of expectation suggested that it is useful to have a theory to explain what other approaches left over. The working methodology focused in the gathering of data related to the phenomenon and the procedures to explain them inside a cognitive approach. The utterances are directly dependent of how the mind words. Therefore, studying speech we can have an access to people's mind. The idea of expectation may be interpreted under different traditional semantic labels. However, there are some peculiarities that can be explained only by a cognitive approach to language. We find words and phrases in the languages which reveal the presence of an expectation, such as "I think that...", "there has been an expectation about..." All answers are expected to fulfill an expectation. This investigation brought evidence that the mental expectation is essential to the act of communication. Therefore, the study of expectation in languages and in people's mind is important for the researches on cognitive semantics.