Lexical
pragmatics is a rapidly developing branch of linguistics that investigates the processes by which linguistically-specified ('literal')
word meanings are modified in use. Well-studied examples include narrowing (e.g. drink
used to
mean 'alcoholic drink'), approximation (e.g. square used to mean 'squarish') and metaphorical extension (e.g. dragon used to mean 'frightening person'). In the past, narrowing, approximation and metaphorical extension have been seen as distinct pragmatic processes and studied in isolation from each other. Recently,
relevance theorists (e.g. Sperber & Wilson 1998; Carston 2002; Wilson & Sperber 2002) have been defending the alternative view that they are outcomes of a single pragmatic process which fine-tunes the interpretation of virtually every word. After briefly
outlining some of the arguments for this unified relevance-theoretic approach, and illustrating its application to some examples from daily communication, I will suggest some ways in which it might be tested, and explore its implications for future research on pragmatics, language acquisition, language change, developmental psychology and neuropsychology. This paper forms part of a broader project on
Lexical pragmatics which has just started at University College London, with a conference to be held in England in 2005. The project would benefit greatly from collaboration with colleagues in China, and I will end by outlining some possibilities for joint research.