Relevance: Communication And Cognition 2nd Ed.

'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. Review: '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 Table of Contents: Preface to Second Edition. 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.