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1、CognitiveScience34(2010)583–601CopyrightÓ2010CognitiveScienceSociety,Inc.Allrightsreserved.ISSN:0364-0213print/1551-6709onlineDOI:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01095.xTheEvolutionofRelevanceThomasC.Scott-PhillipsSchoolofPsychology,Philosophy,andLanguageSciences,UniversityofEdinburghReceived5Ju
2、ne2009;receivedinrevisedform8December2009;accepted10December2009AbstractWithhumanlanguage,thesameutterancecanhavedifferentmeaningsindifferentcontexts.Never-theless,listenersalmostinvariablyconvergeuponthecorrectintendedmeaning.TheclassicGriceanexplanationofhowthisisachievedpositstheexiste
3、nceoffourmaximsofconversation,whichspeak-ersareassumedtofollow.Armedwiththisknowledge,listenersareabletointerpretutterancesinacontextuallysensibleway.Thisaccountenjoyswideacceptance,butithasnotgoneunchallenged.Specifically,RelevanceTheoryoffersanexplicitlycognitiveaccountofutteranceinterpr
4、etationthatpresentsaradicalchallengetotheneo-Griceanparadigm.Evolutionaryconsiderationsareonewayinwhichwecanchoosebetweencompetingtheories.Asimplegame-theoreticmodeloftheevolutionofcommunicationispresented,anditisusedtoderiveanumberofbasicqualitiesthatwillbesatisfiedbyallevolvedcommunicati
5、onsystems.ThesequalitiesareobservedtopreciselypredictthefoundationalprinciplesofRelevanceTheory.Themodelthusprovidesbiologicalsupportforthatenterpriseingen-eral,andfortheplausibilityofthecognitivemechanismsthatitdescribesinparticular.Keywords:Linguistics;Psychology;Biology;Communication;P
6、ragmatics;Evolution;Relevance1.IntroductionAmbiguityiscommonplaceandindeedinevitableineverydaylanguage.Anutteranceproducedinonecontextmayhaveaquitedifferentmeaninginadifferentcontext(Atlas,2005;Austin,1955;Carston,2002;Grice,1975;Sperber&Wilson,1995).Despitethis,listenersalmostinvariablyc
7、onvergeuponthecorrectmeaningthatthespeakerintendstoconvey.Howisthisachieved?ThestillwidelyacceptedanswertothisquestionwasprovidedbyGrice(1975),whopositedtheexistenceofacooperativeprinciple,whichcomprisesfourmaximsofconversation:Quality(tellthetruth),Quantity(donotsa
