Relevance, Pragmatics and Interpretation

Cambridge University Press, 7/18/2019
EAN 9781108418638, ISBN10: 1108418635

Hardcover, 326 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
Language: English

Bringing together work by leading scholars in relevance theory, this volume showcases cutting-edge research within the theory, and demonstrates its influence across a range of fields including linguistics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, literary studies, developmental psychology and cognitive science. Organised into broad thematic strands that represent the latest research and debates, the volume shows the depth of analysis now possible after nearly forty years of intensive work in developing and applying the principles of relevance theory. The breadth of influence of the framework is reflected in the chapters of the volume, in some cases moving beyond the traditional realms of semantics and pragmatics to include discourse analysis, language acquisition, media and education. The volume will be essential reading for researchers in these fields, as well as for those already working within relevance theory or with other pragmatic theories.

Introduction Robyn Carston, Billy Clark and Kate Scott
Reflections on the development of relevance theory
Personal notes on a shared trajectory Dan Sperber
The source of relevance Neil Smith
Part I. Relevance Theory and Cognitive Communicative Issues
1. Scientific tractability and relevance theory Nicholas Allott
2. Language processing, relevance and questions Richard Breheny
3. Quasi-factives and cognitive efficiency Axel Barceló and Robert J. Stainton
4. Evidential explicatures and mismatch resolution Victoria Escandell-Vidal
5. Representation and metarepresentation in negation Jacques Moeschler
6. Pronouns in free indirect discourse
a relevance-theoretic account Anne Reboul
7. The development of pragmatic abilities Myrto Grigoroglou and Anna Papafragou
Part II. Pragmatics and Linguistic Issues
8. Mood and the analysis of imperative sentences Mark Jary and Mikhail Kissine
9. The Korean sentence-final Suffix ci as a metarepresentational marker Eun-Ju Noh
10. Expressive epithets and expressive small clauses Diane Blakemore
11. Ad Hoc concepts, polysemy and the lexicon Robyn Carston
12. The polysemy of a Norwegian modal adverb Thorstein Fretheim
13. Noun-noun compounds from the perspective of relevance theory Anne Bezuidenhout
14. Procedural syntax Eleni Gregoromichelaki and Ruth Kempson
Part III. Figurative Language and Layered Interpretations
15. Metaphor and metonymy in acquisition
a relevance-theoretic perspective Ingrid Lossius Falkum
16. Relevance and metaphor understanding in a second language Elly Ifantidou
17. Component processes of irony comprehension in children
epistemic vigilance, mind-reading and the search for relevance Tomoko Matsui
18. Allegory in relation to metaphor and irony Christoph Unger
19. Slave of the passions
making emotions relevant Tim Wharton and Claudia Strey
20. Adaptations as communicative acts
a relevance-theoretic perspective Anne Furlong.