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Relevance theory

Wilson, Deirdre; (2017) Relevance theory. In: Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, United Kingdom. Green open access

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Abstract

This paper outlines the main assumptions of relevance theory (while attempting to clear up some common objections and misconceptions) and points out some new directions for research. After discussing the nature of relevance and its role in communication and cognition, it assesses two alternative ways of drawing the explicit–implicit distinction, compares relevance theory’s approach to lexical pragmatics with those of Grice and neo-Griceans, and discusses the rationale for relevance theory’s conceptual–procedural distinction, reassessing the notion of procedural meaning in the light of recent research. It ends by looking briefly at the relation between the capacity to understand a communicator’s meaning, on the one hand, and the capacity to assess her reliability and the reliability of the communicated content, on the other, and considers how these two capacities might interact.

Type: Book chapter
Title: Relevance theory
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.013.25
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Relevance, communication, explicatures, lexical pragmatics, procedural meaning.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Linguistics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1475755
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