Document Type
Book Section
Publication Date
9-2018
ISBN
978-3-11-047018-5
ISSN
2195-0229
Abstract
In this chapter, I bridge rhetoric and pragmatics, both of which concern themselves with language-in-use and meaning-making beyond formal syntax and semantics. Previous efforts to link these fields have failed, but Sperber and Wilson’s relevance theory (RT), an approach to experimental pragmatics grounded in cognitive science, offers the bridge. I begin by reviewing Gricean pragmatics and its incompatibility with rhetoric and cognitive science. I then sketch RT, but importantly, I identify revisions to RT that make it a powerful tool for rhetorical analysis, a cognitive pragmatic rhetorical (CPR) theory. CPR theory strengthens RT by clarifying what it means to be relevant – and irrelevant – in relevance-theoretic terms. Meanwhile, it provides rhetoric a set of principles for its functioning grounded in cognitive science. I conclude with sample CPR- theoretic analyses.
First Page
69
Last Page
96
Num Pages
37
Series
Age of Access?
Series Number
9
Series Title
Relevance and Irrelevance: Theories, Factors and Challenges
Publisher
De Gruyter
Rights
The final publication is available at www.degruyter.com.
Editor
Jan Strassheim & Hisashi Nasu
Series Editor
André Schüller-Zwierlein, Herbert Burkert, et al.
Recommended Citation
Brian N. Larson,
Bridging Rhetoric and Pragmatics with Relevance Theory,
69
(Jan Strassheim & Hisashi Nasu eds., 2018).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1251
File Type
Included in
Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Communication Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons