Relevant Worlds: Current Perspectives on Language, Translation and Relevance Theory

The present volume examines Relevance Theory, one of the most influential pragmatic approaches to communication rooted in human cognition, by testing both its internal coherence and its applicability to such forms of communication as translation and literature. Part I addresses a wide range of issues which, over recent years, have been of central interest to pragmatists, including relevance theorists, but may well appeal to readers less familiar with pragmatic theory. The papers discuss selected pragmatic phenomena as diverse as conversational humour, politeness, echoicity, garden-path utterances, the explicit-implicit distinction and the role of inferential processes in communication, with a view to applying, evaluating and revisiting the basic tenets of Relevance Theory. Part II is devoted to various aspects of translation. The papers test the applicability of Relevance Theory, depending on the subject, the genre and the aim of the given translation. Most of the articles analyse specific areas of translation practice, for example the translation of popular science, legal texts, film and fiction. A collection of papers on varied linguistic and cultural phenomena, this book will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of pragmatics (including cognitive and experimental pragmatics), semantics, sociolinguistics and Translation Studies.