A Preliminary Inquiry Into Functions Of Intention In Linguistic Communication

Communication occurs when humans manipulate symbols to stimulate meaning in other humans. In our species, communication is a special type of social interaction whose distinctive features are intentionality and overtness. Most linguists and philosophers are united in the opinion that the ability to conceive of intentions is a fundamental and universal aspect of how human beings think about the social world. Now that intentions are at the center of communication theories, this paper expounds the relationship between intentions and communication, and it recognizes the essential role of intentions in governing our generation and understanding of utterances in communication. Real advance in understanding the functions of intentions in linguistic communication has been made by P. Grice. He reveals the close relationship between meaning and communication. His theory sheds new light on how a communicator's intention can shape her utterances and affect her audience's intentions, how the audience's intentions may influence the comprehension process. Within the Gricean theory, notions such as 'to communicate'and 'to mean'can only be understood in terms of multiple layers of intentions and beliefs on the part of conversational participants. Many contemporary researchers on linguistic communication are in line with Grice's view that successful communication entails the exchange of communicative intentions. Searle's Speech Act theory is theory of language use, which attempts to account for how language is used by people to achieve their goals and intentions. Relevance Theory, put forward by Sperber & Wilson, also perceives communication as intentional. By analyzing the roles of intention in linguisticc ommunication, researchers can better understand why conversational misunderstandings have occurred. For second or foreign language learners, the difficulties involved in making decisions about what is significant in a given stretch of utterance and about the producer's intentions, may be greater than for native speakers. This kind of understanding may prove extremely conducive to improving our EFL instruction.