John Cainoy

Reporters are expected to cover the following subtopics in detail:

• Core definition of Relevance Theory (RT) and its foundation in cognitive pragmatics.
• The shift from Grice’s Cooperative Principle to the Cognitive Principle of Relevance and the Communicative Principle of Relevance.
• Distinction between explicature and implicature.
• The role of contextual effects and processing effort in interpretation.
• Relevance in digital communication environments (short texts, emojis, multimodal input).
• Comparison of Relevance Theory with Gricean pragmatics.
• Critiques of RT and its limitations.
• Research potential: using RT to study online communication, multimodal interpretation, and L2 pragmatics.

• Define Relevance Theory and explain its place in pragmatic theory.
• Explore how RT accounts for inference, comprehension, and interpretation.
• Show how RT applies to real-world communication, including digital discourse.
• Highlight how RT refines Grice’s model by focusing on cognition and processing.

• Clark, B. (2013). Relevance Theory. Cambridge University Press.
• Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (2001). Relevance: Communication and cognition (2nd ed.). Blackwell Publishers.

• Relevance Theory (RT)
• Cognitive Principle of Relevance
• Communicative Principle of Relevance
• Explicature vs. Implicature
• Contextual Effects
• Processing Effort
• Optimal Relevance

• RT inferential model of communication.
• Explicature–implicature distinction in discourse analysis.
• Cost–benefit model of interpretation (effects vs. effort).
• Comparative analysis with Grice’s maxims.

• Explicature: “It’s raining.” → “It’s raining [here/now].”
• Implicature: “There’s a light on in the office.” → implicates “Someone is working late.”
• Digital context: A single emoji (🔥) in a chat message → interpreted as “exciting,” “attractive,” or “trending,” depending on context.
• Processing effort: Sarcasm requires more inferencing effort than literal interpretation.

• How does RT improve upon or diverge from Grice’s model?
• Can RT adequately handle multimodal and digital communication?
• What are the limits of assuming “optimal relevance” in communication?

• Study of explicature/implicature in online memes and short-form media.
• RT-based analysis of sarcasm and irony in intercultural communication.
• Application of RT to L2 comprehension of pragmatically rich texts.