Relevance Theory

General overview of relevance theor

Outline of relevance theory

In this paper, we outline a relevance-based approach to pragmatics, the theory of utterance interpretation. The main aim of a pragmatic theory is to explain how the hearer recognises the intended interpretation of an utterance. We argue that this interpretation is not decoded but inferred, by a non-demonstrative inference process in which considerations of relevance play a central role. We offer a definition of relevance, and argue that every utterance creates an expectation of relevance in the hearer, with the preferred interpretation being the one that best satisfies that expectation of relevance. The theory is illustrated by applying it to a wide range of examples

Pragmatics, Modularity and Mind-reading

The central problem for pragmatics is that sentence meaning vastly underdetermines speaker's meaning. The goal of pragmatics is to explain how the gap between sentence meaning and speaker's meaning is bridged. This paper defends the broadly Gricean view that pragmatic interpretation is ultimately an exercise in mind-reading, involving the inferential attribution of intentions. We argue, however, that the interpretation process does not simply consist in applying general mind-reading abilities to a particular (communicative) domain. Rather, it involves a dedicated comprehension module, with its own special principles and mechanisms. We show how such a metacommunicative module might have evolved, and what principles and mechanisms it might contain

The Mapping between the Mental and the Public Lexicon

We argue that the presence of a word in an utterance serves as starting point for a relevance guided inferential process that results in the construction of a contextually appropriate sense. The linguistically encoded sense of a word does not serve as its default interpretation. The cases where the contextually appropriate sense happens to be identical to this linguistic sense have no particular theoretical significance. We explore some of the consequences of this view. One of these consequences is that there may be many more mentally represented concepts than there are linguistically encoded concepts

Outline of Relevance Theory

No abstract

Voice and expressivity in free indirect thought representations : imitation and representation

This paper addresses issues in the philosophy of fiction from the perspective of a relevance theoretic approach to communication. Its departure point is the assumption found in both pretence approaches to irony (e.g. Currie 2002, 2006, 2010, Recanati 2000, 2004, 2007, Walton 1990) and Sperber & Wilson’s (1995, 2006, 2011) echoic approach that free indirect discourse and irony should be treated in parallel. Drawing on examples (mainly) from Mansfield’s short stories, It then addresses the question of how we should account for the role of so-called ‘expressives’ in free indirect style and argues that while authors may use them in the imitation of a character’s style or ‘voice’ (especially for the purpose of parody), they may also use them as a means of encouraging readers to construct their own meta-representations of a character’s state of mind. Finally, it addresses the question of what the narrator’s/author’s role is in creating these effects, and argues that the function of a ‘speaking’ narrator must be de-coupled from that of an organizing, selecting narrator (the communicator). Although this distinction can be explained in relevance theoretic terms, it implies that free indirect thought representations must be distinguished from irony and parody, where the relevance of the utterance lies in the audience’s interpretation of the communicator’s thoughts. Key terms expressive irony free indirect discourse/thought imitation (meta-)representation narrative/narrator parody pretence principle of relevance voic

Editorial: Relevance Theory and Intercultural Communication Problems

This editorial to the special issue of RiL dedicated to relevance theory and problems of intercultural communication addresses the general requirements that a theory of communication must meet to be applicable to the analysis of intercultural communication. Then it discusses criticism levelled against Grice’s theory of conversational implicature and Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness on the grounds that these theories were not universal enough to be applied to all data. Finally, it offers some remarks on the applicability of relevance theory to intercultural pragmatics

Principles of ‘Newspeak’ in Polish Translations of British and American Press Articles under Communist Rule

The paper analyses selected Polish translations of British and American press articles published in the magazine Forum in the years 1965 - 1989. In communist Poland, all such texts were censored before publication, which forced the translators to avoid content and language that could be banned by censors and to adopt a specific style of expression known as Newspeak. The paper lists the linguistic phenomena in the target language that represent features typical of Newspeak and identifies manipulative procedures which led to their occurrence, using a corpus of 25 English texts and their Polish translations

Fodor's frame problem and relevance theory - Response

Chiappe & Kukla argue that relevance theory fails to solve the frame problem as defined by Fodor. They are right. They are wrong, however, to take Fodor's frame problem too seriously. Fodor's concerns, on the other hand, even though they are wrongly framed, are worth addressing. We argue that relevance theory helps address them