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The goal of inferential pragmatics is to explain how the hearer infers the speaker’s meaning on the basis of the evidence provided. The relevance-theoretic account is based on another of Grice’s (1913) central claims: those utterances automatically create expectations which guide the hearer towards the speaker’s meaning. Grice (1913) described these expectations in terms of a Co-operative Principle and maxims of Quality, Quantity, Relation and Manner which speakers are expected to observe: The interpretation a rational hearer should choose is the one that best satisfies those expectations. Relevance theorists share Grice’s (1913) intuition that utterances raise expectations of relevance, but question several other aspects of his account, including the need for a Co-operative Principle and maxims, the focus on pragmatic processes which contributes to implicatures rather than to explicit, truth-conditional content, the role of deliberate maxim violation in utterance interpretation, and the treatment of figurative utterances as deviations from a maxim or convention of truthfulness. The central claim of relevance theory is that the expectations of relevance raised by an utterance are precise enough, and predictable enough, to guide the hearer towards the speaker’ s meaning. The aim is to explain in cognitively realistic terms what these expectations of relevance amount to, and how they might contribute to an empirically plausible account of comprehension. The theory has developed in several stages. Here, we will outline the main assumptions of the current version of the theory and discuss some of its implications for pragmatics.
2.2 Overview of Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of young people in Manhattan. After ten seasons on the network, the series finale was promoted by NBC, and viewing parties were organized around the U. S. The series finale airing on May 6, 2004, was watched by 51. 1 million American viewers, making it the fourth most watched series finale in television history and the most watched episode of the decade.
Friends received positive reviews throughout most of its run, becoming one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The series made a large cultural impact, which continues today. Although the producers thought of Friends as “only a TV show”, numerous psychologists investigated the cultural impact of Friends during the series’ run. The series also influenced the English language, according to a study by a linguistics professor at the University of Toronto. The professor found that the characters used the word “so” to modify adjectives more often than other intensifiers, such as “very” and “really”. Although the preference had already made its way into the American vernacular, usage on the series may have accelerated the change.