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Abstract Abstract: Default meaning is a frequently discussed topic nowadays in post-Gricean pragmatics, and views of its generation mechanism are hotly disputed among researchers. Based on Lewis’s view of language conventions, the author of this article argues that from the interactive perspective of pragmatics and grammar, pragmatic conventions trigger the generation of default meaning. Conventions fall into grammatical and pragmatic conventions. Grammatical conventions make the generation of default meaning follow certain syntactic rules, whereas pragmatic conventions ensure that the hearer automatically recovers default meaning --- a clear division of labor between these two types of conventions. This may provide a new perspective to the analysis of default meaning.
Key words: default meaning; grammar; pragmatics; convention; coordination equilibrium
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