The Relevance Theory

The Relevance Theory

1. Relevance theory is a proposal by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. It argues that the "hearer/ reader/audience will search for meaning in any given communication situation and having found meaning that fits their expectation of relevance, will stop processing. It seeks to explain the second method of communication: one that takes into account implicit inferences.

2. The hearer will tend to select the interpretation, from the range of posible interpretations of the same utterance in the current context, that satisfies the conditions of highest reward (positive cognitive effects) and least mental effort; although, as already suggested, hearers will normally be willing to devote extra cognitive effort if they are going to get additional effects.

3. 3 types of information: - Accessible immediately; -Completely disconnected; -New but connected with what we have: the connection more new information

   • Reinforce. Contradict or weaken.

4. Sub tasks in the overall comprehension process

   • a. Construct appropriate hypotheses about explicit content (EXPLICATURES) via disambiguation (polisemous words), reference assignment, and other pragmatic enrichment processes.
   • b. Construct appropriate hypotheses about the intended contextual assumptions (IMPLICATED PREMISES).
   • c. Construct an appropriate hypotheses about the intended contextual implications (IMPLICATED CONCLUSIONS).