Relevance theory

Diane Blakemore
Table of contents

Sperber & Wilson’s relevance theory, presented most fully in Sperber & Wilson (1986), is an approach to communication and utterance understanding based on a general view of cognition. In contrast with formal approaches to pragmatics (e.g. Gazdar 1979) and socio-cultural approaches (e.g. Leech 1983), relevance theory views pragmatic interpretation as a psychological matter involving inferential computations performed over mental representations, governed by a single cognitive principle. The assumption underlying this approach is that the mind is modular, and, in particular, that there is a distinction between linguistic computations and representations on the one hand, and non-linguistic computations and representations on the other. It is this psychological distinction which, according to relevance theory, underlies the distinction between semantics and pragmatics.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Austin, J. L.
1962 How to do things with words. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
Blakemore, D.
1987 Semantic constraints on relevance. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1988 ‘So’ as a constraint on relevance. In R. Kempson (ed.): 183–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991 Performatives and parentheticals. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 91: 197–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992 Understanding utterances. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1993 The relevance of reformulations. Language and Literature 2(2): 101–120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blass, R.
1990 Relevance relations in Sissala. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carston, R.
1988a Language and cognition. In F. Newmeyer (ed.) Linguistics, vol. 3: 38–68. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
1988b Implicature, explicature and truth-theoretic semantics. In R. Kempson (ed.): 155–181. Google Scholar
1993 Conjunction, explanation and relevance. Lingua 90(2): 27–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, B.
1991 Relevance theory and the semantics of non-declarative sentences. PhD. Diss., University College London. Google Scholar
Fodor, J.
1983 The modularity of mind. MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gazdar, G.
1979 Pragmatics. Academic Press. Google Scholar
Grice, H. P.
1975 Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. Morgan (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, vol. 3: 41–58. Academic Presscademic Press. Google Scholar
1978 Further notes on logic and conversation. In P. Cole (ed.) Syntax and Semantics vol. 9: 113–28. Academic Presscademic Press. Google Scholar
1989 Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar
Kempson, R.
1988 On the grammar-cognition interface. In R. Kempson (ed.): 199–224. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
(ed.) 1988 Mental representations. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Leech, G.
1983 Principles of pragmatics. Longman. Google Scholar
Levinson, S.
1983 Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Récanati, F.
1987 Meaning and force. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R.
1979 The classification of speech acts. In J. R. Searle, Expression and meaning: 1–29. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sperber, D. & D. Wilson
1981 Irony and the use-mention distinction. In P. Cole (ed.) Radical pragmatics: 295–318. Academic Presscademic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1986 Relevance. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1985/6 Loose talk. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86: 153–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987 Precis of ‘Relevance’. Behavioural and Brain Sciences 10: 697–754. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990 Rhetoric and relevance. In D. Wellbery & J. Bender (eds.) The ends of rhetoric: 140–145. Stanford University Presstanford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. & D. Sperber
1981 On Grice’s theory of conversation. In P. Werth (ed.) Conversation and discourse: 155–178. Croom Helm. Google Scholar
1986a Pragmatics and modularity. In A. Farley, P. Farley & K. Mccullough (eds.) Chicago Linguistics Society 22, Part 2: 67–84. Google Scholar
1986b Inference and implicature. In C. Travis (ed.) Meaning and interpretation: 45–76. Blackwell. Google Scholar
1988 Mood and the analysis of non-declarative sentences. In J. Dancy et al. (eds.) Human agency: 77–101. Stanford University Presstanford University Press. Google Scholar
1992a On verbal irony. Lingua 87: 53–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992b Reference and relevance. University College Working Papers in Linguistics 4: 167–192. Google Scholar
1993 Linguistic form and relevance. Lingua 90(2): 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar