成祖堰

【Abstract】This paper holds that relevance is the basis for disambiguation. The process of ostensive-inferential communication is the process of disambiguation. In communication， the hearer properly uses stimulus and manifestive method and pays attention only to the information which has optimal relevance to obtain maximal contextual effects with the least effort. In this process， ambiguity is eliminated and successful communication is achieved.

【Key words】relevance theory； ambiguity； elimination of ambiguity； context

1. Introduction

Ambiguity has enjoyed a long history of concentration， because of the fact that it is a pervasive nature of human language. It is characterized with having more than one meaning. However， The traditional study of ambiguity is a kind of static analysis or description， without considering context， mainly focusing on the forms themselves （phonologic， lexical， grammatical， etc.）， exploring the several possible interpretations of the same linguistic unit. Even if sometimes context is considered， this kind of context is imagined not actual， which seldom takes non-linguistic context into consideration and overlooks the flexibility and variety of language use. So， traditional study of ambiguity cant explain the ambiguity phenomena created in specified contexts.

Relevance theory serves as the theoretical foundation for the analysis of ambiguity of everyday conversation， which focuses on people's cognitive processes. On the basis of a thorough investigation of traditional researches on ambiguity， this study attempts to study the elimination of ambiguity from the perspective of relevance theory. To make a unified account of this phenomenon as well as to make some advisable suggestions on improving discourse comprehension is also the major concern of the present study.

According to relevance theory， to understand utterances correctly in communication， one should search for the optimal relevance in contexts by means of inference. The concept of context is very important in the relevance. On the basis of relevance theory， the author regards context as a dynamic and psychological concept， it is “the subset of the hearers assumptions about the world and the set of premises used in interpreting utterance” （Sperber and Wilson， 1986：15）. During the process of understanding， the degree of context is decided by the relevance principle. Once the optimal relevance is found in understanding， a certain context can be decided. So the communicators task is to try to search for the optimal relevance and create adequate contextual effect during the process of understanding， thus providing a sound basis for understanding.

2. Relevance Theory

Relevance theory was formally put forward by Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson in their book Relevance： Communication and Cognition in 1986. Relevance theory is an inferential theory， the basic ideas of the theory is contained in the definition of relevance and two principles. Cognitive environment of an individual is a set of facts that are manifest to him， which plays an essential part in human utterance interpretation. The success of communication is determined by the situation that whether both communicative parties can manifest and mutually manifest the others cognitive environment. In terms of this theory， the traditional encoding-decoding process is attached to the cognitive-inferential process. Human cognition is relevance-oriented and we pay attention only to the information that seems relevant to us. Human beings communication is an ostensive-inferential process， in which both the addresser and the addressee are governed by the search for optimal relevance.

2.1 Cognitive Context

As we all know， communication by itself is dynamic so context cant be static for its important role in the communication. Comparing with the traditional view on context， cognitive context is a dynamic one， which is changing with the development of the communication. In this way， Sperber and Wilson provide us a new approach to the investigation of context and language use.

2.2 Relevance and Contextual Effect

Sperber and Wilson hold that the dynamics of the context is governed by the principle of relevance. Through an utterance， the speaker firstly conveys the presumption of optimal relevance， and the hearer also finishes his interpretation of the utterance guided by the optimal relevance. Relevance is defined by Sperber and Wilson in terms of contextual effects and processing effort.

2.3 Relevance and Optimal Relevance

The relevance theory， according to Sperber and Wilson， is grounded “in a general view of human cognition” （Sperber & Wilson， 1995： F39）. Relevance is the key to human cognition. The key to understanding is the optimal relevance between cognitive context and utterance. That refers to adequate effects for no unjustifiable effort. Although every act of verbal communication is worth attention， people usually pay attention only to the information that seems relevant to them. As a result， every utterance creates an expectation of relevance.

Here， relevance is defined as the relation between an assumption and a context. It is proposed that human cognition is relevance-oriented， and human cognitive assumption is the standard for utterance interpretation. But in which way are we justified to say that one phenomenon is more relevant than another？ What relevance are we looking for when interpreting an utterance？ The answers to these questions lie in optimal relevance.

The choice of the context is governed by the principle of optimal relevance. On the one hand， the speaker's utterance should bear some relevance to the hearer and it is the most relevant one that he can make； on the other hand， the hearer should make some effort to achieve enough cognitive effect and his effort should not be unjustifiable. Due to the difference between the cognitive environments of different people， misunderstanding often occurs in communication. This view of the context can provide an appropriate interpretation of the communication process.

3. Elimination of ambiguity from the perspective of relevance theory

As mentioned above， Relevance Theory regards communication as an ostensive-inferential process， and from the angle of cognitive linguistics， verbal communication is a cognitive behavior on the basis of a certain inferential law of thought. Human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance and verbal communication is oriented to optimal relevance. In terms of the principle of relevance， every utterance （or other act of overt communication） communicates a presumption or expectation of its own relevance. The hearer tries to obtain the greatest contextual effect with the least cognitive effort and infer the speakers communicative intention. Although ambiguity is connected with the nature of language， it does not mean that ambiguity can not be eliminated. Ambiguity affects our correct understanding of language. Therefore， the elimination of ambiguity is necessary if we want to improve the ability of language.

3.1 Relevance-theoretic Account for Disambiguation

Just as mentioned above， people have used all kinds of linguistic theories and patterns to explore ambiguity， but many scholars at home and abroad limit the study on the elimination of ambiguity to the semantic or grammatical level， which is a static research. Language is not isolated and quiescent. It is used creatively in communication. Furthermore， ambiguity is not only a communicative phenomenon but also a cognitive one in nature. Therefore， this section tries to explore ambiguity cognitively. The nature of this research is to understand how people know the world around them， so a cognitive interpretation is a discovery of the nature of ambiguity and a further study on disambiguation.

The center of relevance theory is contextual relevance and the basic reason of ambiguity is the lack of contextual relevance， so the way of eliminating ambiguity is to complement relevant contexts. Different ambiguities lack of different relevant contexts. The mechanism of inference provides the possibility of successful communication.

3.2 Cognitive Context and Disambiguation

As is known to us， the appearance of ambiguity is tightly associated with the absence of communicational situation or specific context. We rely on context rather than an isolated sentence to communicate with each other.

Relevance theory considers that human beings interpret ambiguity on the basis of the principle of relevance. Which one will the hearer choose among the several possible interpretations of an ambiguity in the verbal communication？ Wilson （1994： 51） claims that： In disambiguation， the first interpretation consistent with the principle of relevance is the only interpretation consistent with the principle of relevance： all other interpretations are disallowed.

This means that the hearer is inclined to choose the kind of interpretation that can produce sufficient contextual effect while demanding the most economical effort. That is， during the process of interpreting ambiguity， the hearer will search for the appropriate contextual assumptions to understand the ambiguity and such an interpretation will need least effort at the same time. Every assumption in cognitive context is not independent from each other， they are connected to construct structurization factors of cognitive contexts such as frame， schema and knowledge script， etc.

3.3 The Process of Inference — the Process of Disambiguation

There are two communicative models： the code model and the inferential model. Language communication will involve the two models simultaneously. In the process of communication， the encoding-decoding process is attached to the cognitive-inferential process. Understanding and analyzing discourse is closely related to decoding process， but discourse cannot be understood only literally； one of the tasks of understanding and analyzing discourse is to explain the phenomenon of separation between semantic expression and the actual communicative thoughts， such as interpreting the ambiguous utterance （Zhang Yafei， 1992：9）. In the code model， this phenomenon of separation is remedied by decoding process， but in the actual use of language， except for quite few limited utterances， most pragmatic phenomena are inexplainable by decoding rules. The basic reason for this lies in the fact that discourse understanding depends on context and any change of context has influence on it. Therefore， communicative inferential model is proposed in relevance theory， that is， the separation between utterance expression and speakers intention is remedied not by language rules， but by the process of cognitive inference. The realization of communication results from the speaker offering informative intention and the hearer inferring the communicative intention.

From the analyses in this part， we can see relevance theory can account for the elimination of ambiguity， which has omnipresent interpretive ability to disambiguation. The process of inference is the process of eliminating ambiguity. The principle of relevance is the key to disambiguation and relevance is the basis of disambiguation.

4. Conclusion

The study of disambiguation from the perspective of relevance theory has enlightenment on English teaching. Especially in the present Information Age， teachers should make full use of all kinds of teaching equipment and methods to enlarge students cognitive， and try to achieve optimal relevance in communication with students. So， it is necessary to develop and enhance the students contextual awareness.

References：

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[2]Dascal，Marcelo.1985.“The Relevance of Misunderstanding”，in Marcelo Dascal，ed.Dialogue：An Interdisciplinary Approach，Ameterdam：John Benjamins.441-449.

[3]Gutt，Dr Ernst-August.2004.Translation and Relevance：Cognition and Context[M].

[4]Sperber，D.& D.Wilson.1995.Relevance：Communication and Cognition，Oxford：Blackwell.