关联理论中的模糊和接近概要.ppt

Book Report Vagueness and approximation in relevance theory Tan Rui Content 1. Background of the paper 2. The questions to be answered 3.The content of the paper 4. The theoretical basis of the paper 5. Some important opinions in the paper 6. The conclusion of the paper 7. Reflections after reading the paper 1. Background of the paper Relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986) analyzes vagueness and approximation as instances of loose talk, which involve less than literal interpretations of thoughts. This approach has been developed by Reboul (1989), who tried to account for the interpretive use of concepts. 2. The questions to be answered This paper evaluates these proposals and shows that they (SW) leave many questions unanswered, especially about the very nature of interpretive use and the identification of speech acts. It is also claimed that vagueness and approximation should be dealt with separately. First, vagueness cannot be reduced to an instance of loose talk. When examining the evidential basis of vague utterances and when analyzing the interpretation processes at work, one realizes that it is necessary to posit the existence of vague concepts. 2. The questions to be answered Secondly, in order to account for approximation, one has to rely on assumptions concerning the way people ordinarily speak about certain things. However, it is possible to elaborate, in the framework of relevance theory, an alternative account of vagueness and approximation which proves more satisfying even though it does not succeed in solving all the problems involved. 3.The content of the paper In this paper, the author shows that Sperber and Wilson’s explanatory framework leaves unanswered many questions concerning the very nature of interpretive use and the identification of speech acts. He claims that vagueness and approximation should be dealt with separately, since they involve two different kinds of concepts. However, he does not extend my criticism to the foundatio