RT list: Help needed

Dear All,

Any help on the matter below would be much appreciated.

In Relevance, pag 62. Sperber & Wilson say:

By making her informative intention mutually manifest, the communicator creates the following situation: it becomes mutually manifest that the fulfilment of her informative intention is, so to speak, in the hands of the audience. If the assumptions that she intends to make manifest to the audience become manifest, then she is successful; if the audience refuses to accept these assumptions as true or probably true, then she has failed in her informative intention.

I agree with the second part - if the audience refuses to accept these assumptions as true or probably true, then she has failed in her informative intention.

I have however tried during the last couple of hours to understand what it means "If the assumptions that she intends to make manifest to the audience become manifest, then she is successful" - Is she successful in communicating that she has a particular informative intention, or is the very informative intention successful?

I tend to believe that my second explanation is correct - but I may be wrong so please help!

Briefly my line of reasoning is this:

Informative intention: I want you to believe that it is raining.

My communicative intention is to make mutually manifest to you and me that I want you to believe that it is raining.

I am telling you: It is raining.

Now, the assumption that it is raining is mutually manifest for both of us.
Communication is successful because the communicative intention is fulfilled.

In my mind, at this point, we can speak about this 'If the assumptions that she intends to make manifest to the audience become manifest, then she is successful' - so she is successful in communicating, not in fulfilling her informative intention.

But right in this moment, we don't know if you believe that it is raining or assume that it may be raining.

If you do believe it or assume it, then my informative intention is also fulfilled. If not, I just communicated something to you, without fulfilling my informative intention.

My question is - in the quotation above she is successful in what? in fulfilling her communicative intention?

I hope I didn't lose everybody and that it has some meaning!

Thank you,

Anabella
Received on Mon Aug 27 22:15:35 2012