Subtext and Implicative-Pragmatic Meaning in Abdullah Qahhor’s “Anor” and Anton Chekhov’s “Ward No. 6”

Abstract

This article studies how implicit meaning is built in Abdulla Qahhor’s “Anor” and Anton Chekhov’s “Ward No. 6.” The paper treats subtext, implicature, and presupposition not as optional stylistic decoration but as working mechanisms of literary semantics. The review section shows that literary pragmatics has explained indirect meaning through Gricean inference, speech acts, relevance, and reader participation, yet the connection between those concepts and the deep semantic organization of fiction still needs tighter practical description, especially in work linked to Uzbek material. Methodologically, the article uses close reading and comparative pragmatic analysis of selected passages. The results show that “Anor” produces hidden meaning through culturally loaded dialogue, symbolic pressure around the pomegranate, and silence after conflict, whereas “Ward No. 6” relies on philosophical dialogue, institutional irony, and the prison-like semantics of the ward. Both texts make the reader infer ethical judgment from what the narration withholds.