?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Cognitive-pragmatic+explanations+of+socio-pragmatic+phenomena%3A++the+case+of+genre&rft.creator=Unger%2C+Dr.+Christoph&rft.subject=Pragmatics&rft.description=In+this+paper+I+want+to+argue+that+adequate+explanations+for+socio-pragmatic+phenomena+need+to+be+based+on+comprehension+models+involving+a+cognitive+concept+of+relevance+(as+in+Sperber+%26+Wilson's+1995+relevance+theory)%2C+as+opposed+to+socially-+or+rationality-based+maxims+(as+in+Kitis+1999%3B+Holdcroft+1979+in+the+former%2C+and+Grice+1989+and+Green+1995+in+the+latter+case).+This+argument+will+be+developed+mainly+through+looking+at+the+case+of+genre%2C+which+can+be+seen+as+a+socio-pragmatic+phenomenon+par+excellance%2C+before+extending+the+resulting+account+briefly+to+other+phenomena+such+as+register+and+socio-pragmatically+determined+stylistic+preferences+in+the+use+of+preparatory+questions.+The+existence+of+different+genres+or+discourse+types+has+given+rise+to+the+question+whether+the+maxims+or+principles+governing+the+comprehension+process+are+indeed+stable+or+must+be+relativised+to+individual+genres.+Holdcroft+(1979)%2C+Kitis+(1999)+and+Green+(1995)+follow+various+ways+in+which+this+could+be+done.+However%2C+these+approaches+share+the+feature+that+they+put+the+recognition+of+genre+outside+the+realm+of+the+maxim-based+inferential+comprehension+procedure.+Since+genre+recognition+will+govern+the+way+the+pragmatic+maxims+operate%2C+this+means+that+a+crucial+component+of+verbal+comprehension+remains+unexplained+by+these+pragmatic+theories+and+would+have+to+be+addressed+in+special-purpose+theories+of+genre+recognition.+Within+a+relevance-theoretic+account+of+translation%2C+on+the+other+hand%2C+it+is+possible+to+account+for+genre+in+a+different+way%3A+since+genre+knowledge+is+cultural+knowledge%2C+and+cultural+knowledge+is+constituted+of+mental+representations+epidemic+in+a+community+and+therefore+highly+accessible+(Sperber+1996)%2C+genre+knowledge+can+enter+into+the+comprehension+process+very+early+on+with+the+effect+of+modifying+the+addressee's+expectations+of+relevance+(Unger+2001).+Since+the+fine-tuning+of+expactations+of+relevance+is+an+essential+part+of+the+general+relevance-theoretic+comprehension+procedure%2C+genre+recognition+falls+squarely+inside+the+relevance-guided+inferential+phase+of+utterance+interpretation+and+need+no+longer+be+delegated+to+unspecified+special-purpose+theories+of+genre+recognition.+This+account+is+based+on+a+cognitive+notion+of+relevance%2C+so+that+a+socio-pragmatic+phenomenon+(genre)+is+indeed+explained+in+terms+of+a+cognitive+pragmatic+account+of+communication.+%0AOn+this+relevance-theoretic+account+of+genre%2C+genre+information+enters+into+the+comprehension+procedure+by+way+of+influencing+the+addressee's+expectations+of+relevance.+In+principle%2C+any+sufficiently+highly+accessible+contextual+information+can+be+used+to+fine-tune+relevance+expectations%2C+in+particular+cultural+information+other+than+genre.+I+will+briefly++discuss+how+register+and+socially-determined+stylistic+preferences+can+be+explained+along+similar+lines.+This+sheds+light+on+the+widely-shared+intuition+that+the+notions+of+register+and+genre+are+closely+related+(e.g.+Eggins+%26+Martin+1997%3B++Downing+1996%3B+Vazquez+Orta+1996)+and+furthermore+suggests+that+other+socio-pragmatic+phenomena+not+usually+associated+with+genre+can+also+be+accounted+for+in+similar+ways+in+a+cognitive-pragmatic+account+of+communication.&rft.date=2002&rft.type=Conference+Paper&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F5439%2F1%2FCogPragExpl.pdf&rft.identifier=++Unger%2C+Dr.+Christoph++(2002)+Cognitive-pragmatic+explanations+of+socio-pragmatic+phenomena%3A+the+case+of+genre.++%5BConference+Paper%5D++++(Unpublished)++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F5439%2F