Relevance Theory
Applications and implications
Editors
| University College London
| Nara Women's University
This collection of papers arises from a meeting of relevance theorists held in Osaka, May 29-30, 1993. Speakers at the conference included both of the originators of the theory, Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, the editors of this volume and several other Japanese linguists and pragmatists, all of whose work is included.
The full breadth and richness of relevance theory is represented here, both in its applications to problems of utterance interpretation, that fall squarely within the domain of pragmatics, and its implications for linguistic semantics. Several papers investigate and assess the theory’s account of figurative uses of language, such as irony, metaphor and metonymy. Other central pragmatic issues include a relevance-driven account of generalized implicature, the role of bridging implicatures in reference assignment, the way in which different intonation patterns contribute to the relevance of an utterance and the application of the theory to literary texts. The recently developed semantic distinction between conceptually and procedurally encoded meaning, motivated by relevance-theoretic considerations, is employed in new accounts of several Japanese particles and in a fresh perspective on the phenomenon of metalinguistic negation.
The volume comes with a comprehensive glossary of relevance-theoretic terms.
The full breadth and richness of relevance theory is represented here, both in its applications to problems of utterance interpretation, that fall squarely within the domain of pragmatics, and its implications for linguistic semantics. Several papers investigate and assess the theory’s account of figurative uses of language, such as irony, metaphor and metonymy. Other central pragmatic issues include a relevance-driven account of generalized implicature, the role of bridging implicatures in reference assignment, the way in which different intonation patterns contribute to the relevance of an utterance and the application of the theory to literary texts. The recently developed semantic distinction between conceptually and procedurally encoded meaning, motivated by relevance-theoretic considerations, is employed in new accounts of several Japanese particles and in a fresh perspective on the phenomenon of metalinguistic negation.
The volume comes with a comprehensive glossary of relevance-theoretic terms.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 37] 1998. x, 300 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of contributors | p. vii
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Preface | p. ix
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Pragmatics and timeDeirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber | p. 1
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The Japanese adverbial yahari or yappariKeiko Tanaka | p. 23
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A relevance-based analysis of hearsay particles: With special reference to Japanese sentence-final particle tteReiko Itani | p. 47
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Intonation and relevanceKunihiko Imai | p. 69
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Metaphor and metonymyNam Sun Song | p. 87
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Procedural semantics and metalinguistic negationAkiko Yoshimura | p. 105
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Assessing a scenario-based account of bridging reference assignmentTomoko Matsui | p. 123
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Text and relevanceSeiji Uchida | p. 161
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Informativeness, relevance and scalar implicatureRobyn Carston | p. 179
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Symposium on Irony
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On non-echoic ironyKen-ichi Seto | p. 239
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Irony from a cognitive perspectiveHideki Hamamoto | p. 257
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Some issues in the treatment of irony and related tropesMasa-aki Yamanashi | p. 271
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Irony and relevance: A reply to Seto, Hamamoto and YamanashiDan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson | p. 283
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Glossary of relevance-theoretic terms | p. 295
“[...] the book brings to us the advantage and significance of relevance theory in its application and implicature to describing utterance interpretation. The insights and applications presented in this book will surely provide a model for future studies on verbal communication and human cognition. [...] The book deserves the attention of those who work in the fields of pragmatics, linguistics, discourse analysis and language teaching.”
Xinzhang Yang, Xiamen University, China
“[...] the compendium of research included in this volume is, indeed, a major source of information about the state of the art in relevance-theoretic research, and highly advisable reading for any analyst interested in S&W's theory, or in human interpretation in general.”
Francisco Yus, University of Alicante, Spain, in Journal of Pragmatics 3, 1999
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Subjects & Metadata
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General