Showing posts with label Relevant Way to Read. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relevant Way to Read. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 24, 2024

We intend to communicate

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One of the strongest claims of the [relevance] theory is that humans, by producing utterances, have the intention to communicate, a claim th...
Tuesday, April 23, 2024

A summary of a few Greek particles

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I append here a brief summary of my suggestions for these particles: Ἵνα introduces a potential state of affairs; Ὅτι by contrast introduc...
Monday, April 22, 2024

More on οὖν

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The procedural instruction that the particle οὖν gives is: ‘this is still relevant’! In other words it encourages the reader to proceed with...
Friday, April 19, 2024

Context, context, context

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[Concerning οὖν] As with the other particles, we do not interpret utterances by deciphering a code, but by a process of inferencing which ma...
Thursday, April 18, 2024

But is it true?

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When something is presented as a ‘state of affairs’ it does not necessarily mean that it is true, but that the speaker is presenting it as t...
Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Actual vs. potential state of affairs (Greek)

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The particle ὅτι may be usefully regarded as operating in a manner parallel to that of ἵνα but giving procedural instructions to a reader or...
Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Those Greek particles

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There are some small words in Greek that are very helpful guides in interpreting the phrases or clauses that they introduce. Traditionally, ...
Monday, April 15, 2024

How to recognize irony

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It is the fact that there is no linguistic marker to introduce irony which makes its identification so difficult. The playwright Tom Stoppard...
Friday, April 12, 2024

Understanding the intent of the author

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The understanding that literalness is not normative opens the way for an acceptance of all utterance as ‘close’ or ‘loose’ resemblance, and ...
Thursday, April 11, 2024

Literalness is not normative or privileged

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The book of Revelation raises huge interpretative issues, particularly in relation to what is considered to be literal and what metaphorical...
Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Representative, not verbatim

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Sperber and Wilson point out that ‘direct quotations are the most obvious examples of utterances used to represent not what they describe bu...
Tuesday, April 09, 2024

How do we get there?

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What relevance theory aims to do is not to produce better interpretations than actual hearers or readers do, but to explain how they arrive ...
Monday, April 08, 2024

Hey! It works!

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The truly wonderful thing about RT [relevance theory] is that it works! It is actually true to human behaviour and expectations, in describi...
Friday, April 05, 2024

But it's supposed to make sense!

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Humans assume that what is being addressed to them makes sense and they will either struggle until they find a relevant interpretation, or gi...
Thursday, April 04, 2024

Language as underdetermined

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When we say that language is underdetermined , we are asserting that humans do not say everything they ‘mean’ but only what is ‘relevant’. A...
Wednesday, April 03, 2024

As much, and no more

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Put briefly and in colloquial terms, relevance causes us to say as much as we need to and no more. Too much information is a distraction. Rel...
Tuesday, April 02, 2024

The principle of relevance

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In spoken or written communication the main principle that creates successful communication is the principle of relevance. The speaker assum...
Monday, April 01, 2024

An intention to communicate

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I would suggest then that the very fact of creating a text for public view implies that the writer has an interest in making something manif...
Friday, March 29, 2024

the way of the cross

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The Way of the Cross is not the Way of the Sword.—Scot McKnight, The Audacity of Peace , 97 <idle musing> An appropriate ending to t...