Beyond ostension: Introducing the expressive principle of relevance

Underdeterminacy without ostension: A blind spot in the prevailing models of communication

“…An exception may beBonard (2022), whose argument however broadly supports the present one. He also proposes an extension of prevailing inferential theories.…”

“…1 I will illustrate this blind spot with examples of spontaneous emotional expressions, in particular laughter (see Section 3), but it may well include other cases (see Bonard, 2021, Chapter 3). A secondary aim of this article will be to sketch a possible explanation for such cases (see Section 5-cf., related suggestions that I made in Bonard, 2021Bonard, , 2022.…”

“…A secondary aim of this article will be to sketch a possible explanation for such cases (see Section 5-cf. related suggestions that I made in Bonard 2021Bonard , 2022.…”

“…As mentioned in Section 1, the scope of the inferential model is commonly thought to correspond to that of pragmatics (see e.g., Bach, 2004, Section 2.1; Carston, 2002, Chapter 1; Korta & Perry, 2020, Section 3; Schlenker, 2016, p. 664; Sperber & Wilson, 1986, Chapter 1). The scope of pragmatics may thus need to broaden by setting aside the idea that it only applies to intention‐based communication (for arguments going in the same direction, see Bonard, 2022; Sperber, 2019; Wharton et al, 2021).…”

Relevance theory: New horizons Foreword by Tim Wharton, Caroline Jagoe and Deirdre Wilson

“…Assimakopoulos proposes that this opens up the possibility of applying the relevance-theoretic framework to cases which do not currently satisfy the conditions required for ostensive communication. Bonard (2022) Finally, and still on the topic of ostension, Park and Clark (2022) develop an account of the cognitive processes used in the production of ostensive acts. In A relevance-guided production heuristic they assume that just like comprehension, production is constrained by a dedicated heuristic.…”