+612 9045 4394
Paperback
Published: 9th January 1996
ISBN: 9780631198789
Number Of Pages: 338
Relevance, first published in 1986, was named as one of the most important and influential books of the decade in the Times Higher Educational Supplement. This revised edition includes a new Preface outlining developments in Relevance Theory since 1986, discussing the more serious criticisms of the theory, and envisaging possible revisions or extensions. <br> <br> <br> The book sets out to lay the foundation for a unified theory of cognitive science. The authors argue than human cognition has a goal: we pay attention only to information which seems to us relevant. To communicate is to claim someone's attention, and hence to imply that the information communicated is relevant. Thus, a single property - relevance is seen as the key to human communication and cognition. <br> <br> <br> A second important feature of the book is its approach to the study of reasoning. It elucidates the role of background or contextual information in spontaneous inference, and shows that non-demonstrative inference processes can be fruitfully analysed as a form of suitably constrained guesswork. It directly challenges recent claims that human central thought processes are likely to remain a mystery for some time to come. <br> <br> <br> Thirdly, the authors offer new insight into language and literature, radically revising current view on the nature and goals of verbal comprehension, and in particular on metaphor, irony, style, speech acts, presupposition and implicature.
?This book ? is very likely to become a classic, not
only because of its potential implications for linguistics,
cognitive psychology and anthropology, but because of the range and
originality of the theory it proposes.? ? Pascal
Engel, Revue Philosophique
?Cognitive science is very often marred by demarcation
disputes and protectionist attitudes which have little or no
rational basis. Occasionally, however, it works as it should and a
book appears which reaches across the bread and butter lines which
institutional life forces upon us. Relevance is, I think, such a
book.? ? Alan Leslie, Mind and Language.
?The repercussions of Relevance are likely in the
long run to be great ? felt first, perhaps, in the pragmatics
of conversation, the philosophy of language, and reader-response
criticism, but also in many other activities: construction of
memory models, pedagogy, machine learning and (doubtless)
advertising and propaganda.? ? Alastair Fowler,
London Review of Books
?I recommend this book to people interested in
linguistics, philosophy of language and pragmatics, and,
definitely, to people who cultivate an interest in
semiotics.? ? Umberto Eco,
L?Expresso
?This is probably the best book you?ll ever read on communication.? ? Rhetoric Society Quarterly
List of symbols.
1. Communication.
2. Inference.
3. Relevance.
4. Aspects of Verbal Communication.
Postface.
Notes to First Edition.
Notes to Second Edition.
Notes to Postface.
Bibliography.
Index.
ISBN: 9780631198789
ISBN-10: 0631198784
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 338
Published: 9th January 1996
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 23.1 x 16.35
x 1.97
Weight (kg): 0.47
Edition Number: 1
Edition Type: Revised
Earn 123 Qantas Points
on this Book
