UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 11 (1999)
The relationship between generative grammar and (relevance-theoretic) pragmatics
ROBYN CARSTON
The generative grammar approach to language seeks a fully explicit account of
the modular system of knowledge (competence) that underlies the human language
capacity. Similarly, the relevance-theoretic approach to pragmatics attempts an
explicit characterisation of the subpersonal systems
involved in utterance interpretation. As an on-line performance system,
however, it is subject to certain additional constraints; this is demonstrated
by the way in which matters of computational (processing effort) economy are
currently employed in the two types of theory. A sub-module of 'discourse
competence' is shown to be compatible with and complementary to the wider
system of pragmatic processes.
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