Tokyo Chapter Lecture Series Co-sponsored by JALT Pragmatics SIG
"Communication and Relevance"
This seminar will provide an overview of a new approach to pragmatics called 'Relevance Theory,' proposed and developed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. The presenter will introduce the notion of relevance and the basic principle of Relevance Theory, and will show its rich implications for the analysis of verbal communication. Revolutionary aspects of the theory will be emphasized.
Speaker’s Bio:
Yuji NISHIYAMA is Professor of linguistics at the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at Meikai University. He is also Professor Emeritus at Keio University. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Language from M.I.T. in May 1974. His research interests include generative grammar, semantics, pragmatics, semiotics, and philosophy of language. Some of his representative publications are: “Non-referentiality in Certain Noun Phrases,” in T. Sano, M. Endo, I. Isobe, K. Otaki, K. Sugisaki and T. Suzuki (eds.), An Enterprise in the Cognitive Science of Language: A Festschrift for Yukio Otsu, Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo Publishing, 2008; “Property Expressions and the Semantics Pragmatics Interface,” in P .Cap and J. Nijakowska (eds.), Current Trends in Pragmatics, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007; Nihongo Meishiku no Imiron to Goyoron [Semantics and Pragmatics of Noun Phrases in Japanese], Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo Publishing, 2003; The Structure of Propositions, Tokyo: Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, Keio University, 1975.
