Wilson and Sperber--Relevance Theory(25)

For expository purposes, we have chosen an example in which the linguistic content of the discourse, and in particular the preceding utterance (‘No’), creates a fairly precise expectation of relevance, allowing the interpretation process to be strongly driven by expectations of effect. In an indirect answer such as (ib), where the linguistic form of the utterance is compatible with two different lines of interpretation, considerations of effort, and in particular the accessibility of contextual assumptions capable of yielding the expected conclusions, play a more important role. In a discourse-initial utterance such as (ii), or in a questionnaire situation, considerations of effort are likely to play a decisive role in narrowing down the possible lines of interpretation:

(i) a. Peter: Did John pay back the money he owed?

b. Mary: He forgot to go to the bank.

(ii) He forgot to go to the bank.

For one thing, we have used English sentences to represent the assumptions and assumption schemas that Peter entertains at different stages of the comprehension process, which we assume he does not represent in English but in some conceptual representation system or language of thought. We have also left aside semantic issues such as the analysis of the definite article and definite descriptions (e.g. the bank). 2120

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