关联理论Relevance-Theory

RelevanceTheoryContents1.RelevanceandCognition4.TypesofCognitiveEffects2.RelevanceTheory:itscommunicativeview3.TwoPrinciplesofRelevance5.CalculatingCognitiveEffectsFormallyproposedbyDanSperberandDeirdreWilsonintheirbookRelevance:CommunicationandCognitionin1986,RelevanceTheory,intendedtoimproveGriceanmaximsbyreducingredundantmaximstoonesingleprinciple,hasarisenheateddiscussionsforyearssinceitwasfirstproposed.BriefIntroductiontoRelevanceTheory1.RelevanceandCognitionWhatsortofthingsmayberelevant?Intuitively,relevanceisapotentialpropertynotonlyofutterancesandotherobservablephenomena,butofthoughts,memoriesandconclusionsofinferences.Inrelevance-theoreticterms,anyexternalstimulusorinternalrepresentationwhichprovidesaninputtocognitiveprocessesmayberelevanttoanindividualatsometime.AccordingtoRelevanceTheory,utterancesraiseexpectationsofrelevancenotbecausespeakersareexpectedtoobeyaCo-operativePrincipleandmaximsorsomeotherspecificallycommunicativeconvention,butbecausethesearchforrelevanceisabasicfeatureofhumancognition,whichcommunicatorsmayexploit.Whenisaninputrelevant?Intuitively,aninput(asight,asound,anutterance,amemory)isrelevanttoanindividualwhenitconnectswithbackgroundinformationhehasavailabletoyieldconclusionsthatmattertohim:say,byansweringaquestionhehadinmind,improvinghisknowledgeonacertaintopic,settlingadoubt,confirmingasuspicion,orcorrectingamistakenimpression.Inrelevance-theoreticterms,aninputisrelevanttoanindividualwhenitsprocessinginacontextofavailableassumptionsyieldsapositivecognitiveeffect.Apositivecognitiveeffectisaworthwhiledifferencetotheindividual'srepresentationoftheworld–atrueconclusion,forexample.Falseconclusionsarenotworthhaving.Theyarecognitiveeffects,butnotpositiveones(Sperber&Wilson1995:§3.1-2).Asforthedefinitionoflanguage,mostlinguiststendtoregardlanguageasagrammar-governedrepresentationalsystemusedforcommunication.Therefore,languageistoexpressandexplainmeaning,andthebasicfunctionoflanguageistocommunicate.However,SperberandWilsonbelievethatalthoughlanguagecanbeusedforcommunicativepurpose,itscommunicativefunctionhasnotrevealedtheessentialfeaturesoflanguage.Intheiropinion,humanactivitiesinvolvedlanguageisinessenceforcognition.Cognitionistoabsorbinformation,toobtaintheknowledge.Sothebasicfunctionoflanguageistoretrieveandprocessinformation.2.RelevanceTheory:itscommunicativeviewThusRelevanceTheoryregardcommunicativeactivities,verbalornonverbal,ascognitiveactivities.Theintentionofspeakercanbeperceivedbytheaudiencebecauseofthesharedcognitiveenvironment.Thesuccessofcommunicationwilldependonthemanifestnessandmutualmanifestnessofeachother'scognitiveenvironment.Humancognitiontendstobegearedtotheprincipleofrelevance,andthecomprehensionofutterancesfollowostensive-inferentialmodel.2.1CodeModel&InferentialModelFromAristotlethroughtomodernsemiotics,alltheoriesofcommunicationwerebasedonasinglemodel,whichwewillcallthecodemodel.Accordingtothecodemodel,communicationisachievedbyencodinganddecodingmessages.Recently,severalphilosophers,notablyPaulGriceandDavidlewis,haveproposedaquitedifferentmodel,whichwewillcalltheinferentialmodel.Accordingtotheinferentialmodel,communicationisachievedbyproducingandinterpretingevidence.(Sperber,D&Wilson,D.Relevance:CommunicationandCognition.1986:2)Forexample:(1)EitherMaryisearlyorBobislate.Bobisneverlate.(2)/meƏriizƏ:li/(3)Maryisearly.2.2Ostensive-inferentialCommunicationOnthebasisofthetwomodel,andbydrawingthetheoreticalsourceofcognitivetheoryfromTheUnitStructureofHumanBrainbyA.J.Ford,SperberandWilsonputforwardthenotionofOstensive-InferentialCommunication,regardingtherearetwoaspectsofcommunication:ostensive&inference.Thusostensive-inferentialcommunicationcanbedefinedasfollows:thecommunicatorproducesastimuluswhichmakesitmutuallymanifesttocommunicatorandaudiencethatthecommunicatorintends,bymeansofthisstimulus,tomakemanifestormoremanifesttotheaudienceasetofassumptionsI(Sperber,D&Wilson,D.Relevance:CommunicationandCognition.1986:63).2.3InformativeIntention&CommunicativeIntentionInformativeintention:tomakemanifestormoremanifesttotheaudienceasetofassumptionsI(Sperber,D&Wilson,D.Relevance:CommunicationandCognition.1986:58).Communicativeintention:tomakeitmutuallymanifesttoaudienceandcommunicatorthatthecommunicatorhasthisinformativeintention(Sperber,D&Wilson,D.Relevance:CommunicationandCognition.1986:58;61).Forexample:Marry:IhadasorethroatonChristmasEve.(a)LetPeterbelievethatshehadasorethroatonChristmasEve;(b)LetPeteridentifyherintention(a);(c)LetPeter'sidentificationofherintention(a)canatleastpartlyexplainwhyPeterbelieves.Understandingisachievedwhenthecommunicativeintentionisfulfilled–thatis,whentheaudiencerecognisestheinformativeintention.Whethertheinformativeintentionitselfisfulfilleddependsonhowmuchtheaudiencetruststhecommunicator.Thereisagapbetweenunderstandingandbelieving.Forunderstandingtobeachieved,theinformativeintentionmustberecognised,butitdoesnothavetobefulfilled.3.TwoPrinciplesofRelevanceAccordingtoSperberandWilson,everyaspectofcommunicationandcognitionisgovernedbythesearchfor