The Explanatory Power of Relevance Theory for Disambiguation
YU Bai-xiang · Jiefangjun Waiyu Xueyuan xuebao · 2008
Relevance theory proposed by Sperber Wilson provides us with an excellent theoretical framework for disambiguation.This paper reviews the literature of disambiguation research,accounts for disambiguation in terms of relevance theory,and makes comparisons in explanatory power between relevance-based on the one hand and truth-based and coherence-based approaches on the other hand.It is concluded that relevance-based approach has more explanatory power than any other pragmatics-based approaches.