An Interpretation Of Stickers From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Nowadays,with the quick development of economic and technological information,stickers have become an indispensable part in our communication,especially network communication.People should attach more and more importance to the interpretation of sticker,which is a novel and useful communicative approach.The sticker is a highly effective tool for communication and,which is usually composed of verbal and nonverbal elements.Therefore,stickers are favored by people thanks to their special forms.Based on Relevance Theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson,this thesis explains the importance of stickers in communication through the analysis of the understanding and interpretation process of stickers in network communication.In the light of Sperber and Wilson,human language communication is regarded as an ostensive-inferential process.According to Relevance Theory,the author points out that using stickers is also a kind of ostensive-inferential communication.The qualitative method is mainly used to analyze the process how communicators' presumed optimal relevance is achieved in network communication when stickers are used for ostensive stimulus.The thesis includes three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The main body consists of three chapters: A brief introduction to stickers,an overview of Relevance Theory and relevance theoretic analysis of interpretation of stickers.As a new communicative approach,related studies on stickers are rare at home and abroad.Therefore,the author makes a brief introduction to stickers,including classifications,features,development and studies of stickers at first.Then the framework and studies of Relevance Theory are discussed as well as the originality of this thesis is summarized in the second chapter.The third chapter is the interpretation of stickers based on Relevance Theory.Sticker interpretation is the most important part of this thesis.Based on the special structure or form of stickers,the case study has been carried out in two categories,which contain analysis of stickers themselves and analysis of stickers in communicative context.The concrete analysis includes two steps: context analysis and interpretation process analysis.The study reveals that non-verbal factors of stickers play a great role in stickers' interpretation.Case study in the third chapter vividly reveals that Relevance Theory has a strong explanatory power for sticker interpretation,and the application of stickers enables the communicators to achieve the presumed optimal relevance in different ways.