Meaning and Relevance

Cover......Page 1
Meaning and Relevance......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 9
Tables......Page 10
Preface......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 15
1 Introduction: pragmatics......Page 17
1.1 Three approaches to pragmatics......Page 18
1.2 Literalism and contextualism in semantics......Page 24
1.3 Explicit and implicit communication......Page 26
1.4 Lexical pragmatics: metaphor, approximation and narrowing......Page 32
1.5 Procedural meaning: speech acts, presuppositions and indexicals......Page 39
1.6 Conclusion......Page 42
Part I: Relevance and Meaning......Page 45
2.2 Three types of mapping......Page 47
2.3 Inference and relevance......Page 52
2.4 Relevance and meaning......Page 55
2.5 Implications......Page 59
3.1 Introduction......Page 63
3.2 The case of tropes......Page 66
3.3 The case of loose use......Page 70
3.4 Relevance: theory......Page 77
3.5 Relevance: illustration......Page 82
3.6 The explicit communication of unencoded meanings......Page 87
3.7 Rethinking ‘explicit,’ ‘literal’ and ‘what is said’......Page 92
4.1 A paradox and a dilemma......Page 100
4.2 Relevance theory......Page 102
4.3 Literalness, looseness and metaphor......Page 105
4.4 Echoing and irony......Page 108
4.5 The relevance of rhetoric......Page 112
5.1 Introduction......Page 113
5.2 The function of language in communication......Page 114
5.3 How relevance guides inferential comprehension......Page 117
5.4 Meaning construction......Page 121
5.5 The literal–loose–metaphorical continuum......Page 125
5.6 Inferential steps......Page 127
5.7 Strength of contextual implications, strength of implicatures......Page 131
5.8 Poetic effects......Page 134
6.1 Traditional approaches to irony......Page 139
6.2 Three puzzling features of irony......Page 142
6.3 The echoic account of irony......Page 144
6.4 Pretence accounts of irony......Page 150
6.5 Hybrid attributive–pretence accounts......Page 152
6.6 Explaining the puzzling features of irony......Page 156
The ironical attitude......Page 157
Normative bias......Page 158
The ironical tone of voice......Page 159
6.7 Conclusion......Page 161
Part II: Explicit and Implicit Communication......Page 163
7.1 Introduction......Page 165
7.2 Conveying and ostensively communicating......Page 166
7.3 Linguistic and non-linguistic communication......Page 168
7.4 Linguistic communication and encoding......Page 169
7.5 Conceptual and non-conceptual encoding......Page 173
7.6 Explicit and implicit conceptual encoding......Page 174
7.7 Proposition expressed versus higher-level explicatures......Page 178
7.8 Constraints on explicatures and constraints on implicatures......Page 181
7.9 Conclusion......Page 184
8.1 Introduction......Page 185
8.2 Temporal and causal connotations: implicatures or pragmatically determined aspects of what is said?......Page 186
8.3 The sequencing problem and the maxim ‘Be orderly’......Page 188
8.4 Understanding and relevance......Page 191
8.5 The interval problem......Page 195
8.6 The role of contextual assumptions......Page 197
8.7 Reverse-causal interpretations......Page 200
8.8 Conclusion......Page 202
9.1 Introduction......Page 203
9.2.1.1 Accessibility of linguistic antecedents......Page 205
9.2.1.2 Accessibility of bridging assumptions......Page 207
9.2.2.1 Truth-based approaches......Page 208
9.2.2.2 Coherence-based approaches......Page 213
9.2.2.3 Relevance-based approaches......Page 215
9.3 Relevance theory and bridging......Page 216
9.4 Comparing coherence theory and relevance theory......Page 222
9.5 Conclusion......Page 225
10.1 Distinguishing mood and force......Page 226
10.2 Characterising imperative mood......Page 228
10.3 Explaining non-literal, non-serious cases......Page 234
10.4 Characterising interrogative mood......Page 237
10.5 Conclusion......Page 243
11.1 Introduction......Page 246
11.2 Gricean pragmatics and mindreading......Page 249
11.3 Relevance theory and communication......Page 253
11.4.1 Resemblance in linguistic metarepresentation......Page 258
11.4.2 Decoding and inference in linguistic metarepresentation......Page 260
11.4.3 Reporting and echoing......Page 265
11.4.4 Non-attributive cases......Page 269
11.5 Conclusion......Page 273
Part III: Cross-Disciplinary Themes......Page 275
12.1 Introduction......Page 277
12.2 Two approaches to communication......Page 279
12.3 Two approaches to inferential communication......Page 282
12.4 Relevance, cognition and communication......Page 287
12.5 Relevance and pragmatics......Page 291
12.6 Conclusion......Page 294
13.2 The basic tenets of relevance theory......Page 295
13.3 Testing the cognitive principle of relevance with relational reasoning tasks......Page 299
13.4 Testing the communicative principle of relevance with the Wason Selection Task......Page 310
13.5 Testing the communicative principle of relevance with a speech production task......Page 318
13.6 Conclusion......Page 322
14.1 Methodological background: the limits of pragmatic intuitions as evidence......Page 323
14.2 Theoretical background: scalar implicatures as Generalised Conversational Implicatures (GCIs)......Page 325
14.3 Relevance theory’s approach......Page 328
14.4 Methodological considerations in experimental approaches to ‘scalar inferences’......Page 333
14.5 Developmental studies......Page 335
14.6 Time course of comprehension among adults......Page 340
14.7 Conclusion......Page 345
15.1 Introduction......Page 347
15.2 Two models of communication......Page 348
15.3 The evolution of language and the two models of linguistic communication......Page 350
15.4 Conclusion......Page 354
1 INTRODUCTION: PRAGMATICS......Page 355
3 TRUTHFULNESS AND RELEVANCE......Page 357
4 RHETORIC AND RELEVANCE......Page 358
5 A DEFLATIONARY ACCOUNT OF METAPHORS......Page 359
6 EXPLAINING IRONY......Page 360
9 RECENT APPROACHES TO BRIDGING: TRUTH, COHERENCE, RELEVANCE......Page 362
11 METAREPRESENTATION IN LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION......Page 363
14 THE WHY AND HOW OF EXPERIMENTAL PRAGMATICS: THE CASE OF ‘SCALAR INFERENCES’......Page 364
15 A PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE ON THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE......Page 365
References......Page 366
Index......Page 389