Linguistic Structure and Inferential Communication

The replacement of code theories of communication by inferential theories has implications for the study of linguistic meaning. This paper surveys some of these implications and outlines an inferential theory – relevance theory – with which semantic analyses of context-dependent expressions, polysemous and ambiguous expressions, and non-truth-conditional expressions (e.g. mood indicators, discourse particles) might interact. Current analyses retain several assumptions of the code model which are unjustifiable on an inferential approach. These assumptions are dropped, and the prospects for a properly inferential treatment are explored.