Relevance-Theory

RelevanceandUnderstandingD.Wilson凌辰1512ASummaryofRelevanceandUnderstanding1.Introduction2.UnderstandingOvertCommunication3.TheNatureandRoleofContext4.RelevanceTheory5.TheCriterionofConsistencywiththePrincipleofRelevance6.SomeConsequencesofRelevanceTheory1.IntroductionIntentionalcomunication(involvesadegreeofmanipulationorconcealment)Overtcommunication明示交际(therearenohiddenintentionsinit)Communication(overt,intentional)Understanding(recoveringtheovertlyintendedinterpretation)Understandingtheutterance:relevanceandunderstandingaretwosidesofasinglecoin.2.UnderstandingOvertCommunicationCodeModel语码模式（alltheoriesofcommunicationwerebasedonasinglemodel.Accordingtothecodemodel,communicationisachievedbyencoding（编码）anddecoding（解码）messages.)语码模式(解码过程):认为交际是对信息的解码和编码的过程。Communicationandunderstandinginvolvemorethanmerelinguisticencodinganddecoding.Threemainquestionsthatthehearerofanutterancehastoanswer(thegapbetweensentencemeaningandutteranceinterpretation):a)Whatdidthespeakerintendtosay?b)Whatdidthespeakerintendtoimply?c)Whatwasthespeaker'sintendedattitudetoimply?a)Whatdidthespeakerintendtosay?(1)Ifyouarelookingforagoodjob,we'reofferingathousandaweek.gardenpathutterance:anutteranceonwhichhearersquitesystematicallygetthewronginterpretationsfirst,andhavetocorrectit.Grace:Sayingisgenerallycontrastedwithimplying,orimplicating.Everyutteranceisseenascommunicatingavarietyofpropositions（判断）,someexplicitly（直接地）,othersimplicitly（含蓄地）.b)Whatdidthespeakerintendtoimply?Sometimes,itisquiteclearwhatthespeakerintendedtosay,butlessclearwhathe/sheintendedtoimply.(2)Ialwaystreatotherpeople'smoneyasifitweremyown.implicature:theintendedimplicationsofanutterance.(someutteranceshaveafewstrong,highlysalientimplicatures;othershaveabroader,lessdeterminaterange)(3)a.Peter:DoesVivplaycricketwell?b.Mary:HeplaysfortheWestIndies.(4)a.Peter:Whatwillyoudotoday?b.Mary:Idon'tfeeltoowell.Ineithercase,whethertheimplicaturesarestrongorweak,theycannotbediscoveredbylinguisticdecodingalone.c)Whatwasthespeaker'sintendedattitudetoimply?Sometimes,itisclearwhatthespeakerintendedtosayorimply,butlessclearwhathis/herattitudeistowhathe/shehassaidorimplied.(5)IthinkitwaswhenIfirstseteyesonhismagnificentestateatPemberley.(6)a.Peter:IsJohnagoodcook?b.Mary:He'sEnglish.Whatiscommunicatedgenerallygoeswellbeyondwhatislinguisticallyencoded.3.TheNatureandRoleofContextItisobviousthatcontextorbackgroundassumptionsplayacrucialroleinansweringthesethreemainquestions.关联论中的语境是一种心理建构体（psychologicalconstruct），是构成听话人认知语境的一系列假设。它不仅包括交际时话语的上下文，即时的物质环境等具体的语境因素，也包括一个人的知识因素，如已知的全部事实，假设，信念以及一个人的认知能力。交际者通过经验或思维已经把有关的具体语境内在化，认知化了。关联论中的语境是“动态的概念”（afluidnotion），它在交际的过程中得到不断的补充和扩大，但语境的选择，调整与证实始终受关联原则的支配。Selectionofanappropriatesetofcontextualassumptionsiscrucialtotheunderstandingof(1)-(6)above.语境的选择选择处理话语最佳语境的过程就是寻求话语最佳关联的过程。话语理解中的语境不仅包括上文所表达和隐含的信息，还包括即时的情景因素，以及与该旧信息和新信息有关的所有百科知识，这就要求听话人根据即时情景对话语语境进行选择。Addafurtherquestiontoourlistofquestionsthatthehearerhastoanswer:d)Whatwastheintendedsetofcontextualassumptions?Theproblemofcontextselectionisagenuineandseriousone.(7)HehasmuchincommonwithJohnMcEnroe.Wechoosetheminimalsetofimplicationsthatwouldmaketheutteranceworthlisteningto,andstopthere.Thehearer'staskistochoose,fromamongthisvastarrayofpossibleinterpretations,theactual,intendedone.Theintendedinterpretationsisnotdecodedbutinferred,byanon-demonstrativeinferenceprocess...toobey.Inourbook,atheoryofovertcommunicationandunderstandingbasedonthisfundamentalideaofGrice's.Grice——合作原则(co-operativeprinciple)MaximofRelationRelevanceBerelevant.MaximofMannerBeClearAvoidobscurityofexpression.Avoidambiguity.Bebrief(avoidunnecessaryprolixity).Beorderly.MaximofQualityBeTruthfula)Donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse.b)Donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.MaximofQuantitya)Makeyourcontributionasinformativeasisrequired(forthecurrentpurposesoftheexchange).b)Donotmakeyourcontributionmoreinformativethanisrequired.Grice语用学说与关联理论的差异第一,Grice过于强调要遵守合作原则诸准则；第二,Grice又过于强调违反准则的作用；第三,Grice只讲交际话语中的“暗含”(whatwasimplicated),不讲交际话语中的“明说”(whatwassaid),但Sperber和Wilson却对“明说”给予同样的注意。4.RelevanceTheoryRelevancetheoryisbasedonafewverysimpleassumptions:(a)everyutterancehasavarietyofpossibleinterpretations...(b)notalltheseinterpretationsoccurtothehearersimultaneously...(c)hearersareequippedwithasingle...(d)humancognitionisrelevance-oriented...关联理论关联理论试图找出以下问题的答案：1.为什么交际双方各自的说话意图会被对方识别？2.为什么交际双方配合得如此自然，既能产生话语又能识别对方的话语？关联理论没有规则，也没有准则需要遵守，它的形成基于几个十分简单的看法:(a)(b)(c)(d).关联理论指出，理解话语的标准是人类认知假设，而人类认知假设认为：人类认知事物时总遵循着一条Sperber和Wilson称之为关联的原则，即根据与之关联的信息来认知事物。Relevanceisdefinedintermsofcontextualeffect语境效果andprocessingeffort推理努力.语境效果就是话语所提供的信息和语境之间的一种关系，它对描述关联是至关重要的。话语是否具有语境效果是关联的必要充分条件。Weclaimthat...thegreaterthecontextualeffects,thegreatertherelevance.（8）ItwillraininParistomorrow.Thegreatertheprocessingeffortneededtoobtaintheseeffects,thelowertherelevance.（9）a.It’sraininginParis.b.It’sraininginParisandfishswiminthesea.a和b在没有必要提及鱼在海里游泳的语境假设中,具有相同的语境效果；但是b比a多一条信息，这条额外的信息需要付出额外的处理话语的努力，所以a比b的关联性强。(10)a.Ihavenobrothersandsistersb.Ihavenosi