Sperber and Wilson attach great importance to the cognitive function of language. They do not agree with the view generally held by linguists, that is, “grammar一governed representational system used for communication." In other words, in these linguists' opinion, language is used to express and explain meanings, and therefore the basic function of language is its communicative function. Sperber and Wilson argue that language is not the only tool for human beings to communicate,therefore the basic function of language is not its communicative function. the essence of all human activities concerning the use of language is for the purpose of cognition.
合作原则不关联理论之对比分 析
• 从六个方面对格氏合作原则和关联理论进行系统地对比,并对其差别进行评 价。
• 这六个方面分别是
1)the theoretical sources
(4)the defination of "meaning"; (5)the defination of "context" (6)the approaches to the interpretation of metaphor.
• 合作原则
• Grice sees conversation as a special case or variety of purposive and rational behavior. • he says in terms of Quantity, "If you are assisting me to mend a car, I expect your • contribution to be neither more nor less than is required". When“I need four screws, I expect you to hand me four, rather than two or six." • In terms of Quality,“I expect your contributions to be genuine and not spurious. If I need sugar as an ingredient in the cake you are assisting me to make, I do not expect you to hand me salt; if I need a spoon, I do not expect a trick spoon made of rubber". • In terms of Relation,“I expect partner's contribution to, be appropriate to immediate needs at each stage of the transaction; if I am missing ingredients for a cake, I do not expect to be handed a cook book, or even an oven cloth (though this might be an • appropriate contribution at a later stage)". • And in terms of Manner,“I expect a partner to make it clear what contribution he is making, and to execute his performance with reasonable dispatch".
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Sperber and Wilson, however, make a distinction between "explicature" and "implicature", which .are different from the concepts of "saying" and "implicature" . They attach importance to explicit and the implicit side of communication and see "the explicit side of both the communication as richer, more inferential, and hence more worthy of pragmatic investigation than
2) the theoretical models;
3)the inferentical models
1. 理论渊源the theoretical resources:
• As a philosopher himself, Grice borrows to explain his cooperative principles from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant's four categories: quantity,quality, relation and manner. That is, he specifies the 'Cooperative Principle from these four aspects. •量的准则: 使你的言语行为含有所要求的信息 • 不要使你的言语信息超出所需求的信息 •质的准则: 不要讲你认为是错误的信息 • 不要讲你缺乏证据的信息 •关系准则: 要有关联性 •方式准则: 避免表述含糊不清 • 避免歧义 • 要简洁 • 要条理清晰
• 关联理论则是立足于认知、心理 及行为科学等领域的研究成果乊上的.其目的是构建一个相对具体 的认知模式 .
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The proposal of Relevance Theory is inspired by Foder's theory of cognition. So their theory, different from Grice's Cooperative Principle, owes their origin to cognition.
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2. 理论模式 the theoretical models
• • • • • • • • • • • First,The approaches they adopt to interpret verbal conversation is different. Second, the linguistic phenomena that they attempt to explain are different. 合作原则 Grice's theory is maxim-based. when we speak,we generally have something like the Cooperative Principle and its maxims in our mind to guide us, though sub--consciously, or even unconsciously. We will try to say things which are true, relevant, as well as informative enough, and in a clear manner. Hearers will also try to interpret what is said to them in this way. the Cooperative Principle can be seen as an attempt to explain how communication succeeds in the face of violation of the maxims. 试图解释违反合作原则的话诧是如何完成交际目的的.过分看重了对准则的违反的研究 关联理论 Relevance Theory, however, has no such maxim or principle. The focus of this theory is communication and cognition. It is neither ruled-based, nor maxim-based.It is clear that Sperber and Wilson want to use the principle of relevance to explain the rule of verbal communication: implications of utterances are acquired by inference. By doing that, they want it to replace Grice's explanation of utterance comprehension by the assumption of observing and violating the maxims. 假设“人类的认知是以关联为导向的，人类的交际活动和认知活动都是为了寻求关联