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Językoznawstwo baner

No. 3/28 (2026)

Articles

Programming as a communicative practice: An analysis of the Pascal programming language from the perspective of communicative grammar

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25312/j.10411  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2026-10-23

Abstract

This article explores the application of the conceptual framework of communicative grammar to the analysis of the Pascal programming language. Its aim is to provide a preliminary assessment of the usefulness of the theory’s three-level model for describing a programming language and to identify selected similarities and differences between source code and natural language. The material comprises representative syntactic and semantic constructions in Pascal, subjected to qualitative analysis at the ideational, interactional, and discourse-organisation levels. The analysis demonstrates that, at the ideational level, meaning is organised primarily through predicate–argument structures: procedures, functions, and certain operators act as predicates, while variables, constants, and expressions function as arguments. Data types determine the status of entities and the range of permissible operations. At the interactional level, Pascal instructions can be interpreted as formalised counterparts of directive speech acts addressed to the machine and executed either unconditionally or upon the fulfilment of specified logical conditions. The discourse-organisation level is manifested in elements that delimit and structure code, including instruction blocks, declaration sections, and procedure and function definitions. The findings suggest that communicative grammar may provide a useful framework for describing Pascal as a specific form of human–machine communication. However, further research is required to establish whether this model can be applied to other programming languages.

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