Altruism, Status, and the Origin of Relevance

Abstract

Introduction : relevance as a basic property of language In his 430 page book `The language instinct', S. Pinker (1994) devotes only five pages to issues related to pragmatics and relevance. The minor role played by pragmatics in this natural history of language is quite surprising. Perhaps we are so accustomed to relevance that, like fish unaware of water, we fail to notice how strong a constraint it is. Relevance is indeed not limited to language. In front of a judge, you may be asked to give relevant justifications for your actions. If you see somebody in danger and begin to look for four-leaf clovers, your behaviour will probably be perceived as irrelevant : relevant behaviour would be some direct or indirect attempt to ward off danger. If relevance applies to human behaviour in general, it is of special importance when we deal with language : as we shall see, the structure of conversation is a consequence of the requirement that utterances be relevant. Even if you see casu