Aspects of Meaning in Interaction: Incomplete Interpretive Hypotheses in L2 Discourse

From a relevance theory perspective, it is assumed that verbal communication processes are governed by a ‘less-than-perfect heuristic’, entailing failures in communication, and that what requires explanation is how successful communication may be achieved (Sperber and Wilson 1995). Accordingly, little attention has been paid to miscommunication or hypotheses about jointly-adjusted interpretive meaning in the relevance theory framework. Using the relevance theory perspective (Carston 2002; Sperber and Wilson 1995; Wilson and Sperber 2004) with a view to extending the understanding of meaning by language users in interaction (Culpeper and Haugh 2014), this paper is concerned with a nuanced understanding of the meaning of the utterances as part of the interpretation process, including miscommunication, in second language (L2) English conversational discourse. Drawing on the relevance-theoretical notions of the individual’s ‘expectations of relevance’ (Sperber and Wilson 1995), ‘parallel adjustment process’ (Wilson and Sperber 2004) and Culpeper and Haugh’s (2014) notion of ‘recipient meaning’, this paper highlights that the potential for miscommunication in interaction is not uncommon, particularly in terms of meaning construction.