The studies reported in this chapter test predictions directly inspired by central tenets of relevance theory and, in particular, by the cognitive and the communicative principles of relevance.
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Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst & Dan Sperber (2004) Testing the cognitive and communicative principles of relevance. In I. Noveck & D. Sperber (eds.), Experimental Pragmatics, (Palgrave)The studies reported in this chapter test predictions directly inspired by central tenets of relevance theory and, in particular, by the cognitive and the communicative principles of relevance. This volume lays down the bases for a new field, Experimental Pragmatics, that draws on pragmatics, psycholinguistics and also on the psychology of reasoning. [PDF version] Dan Sperber & Lawrence Hirschfeld (2004) The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity. Trends in Cognive Science 8, 40-46.Abstract: The existence and diversity of human cultures are made possible by our species-specific cognitive capacities. But how? Do cultures emerge and diverge as a result of the deployment, over generations and in different populations, of general abilities to learn, imitate and communicate? What role if any do domain-specific evolved cognitive abilities play in the emergence and evolution of cultures? These questions have been approached from different vantage points in different disciplines. Here we present a view that is currently developing out of the converging work of developmental psychologists, evolutionary psychologists and cognitive anthropologists. We outline the main assumptions of the current version of the theory and discuss some of its implications for pragmatics [PDF version] |