Deirdre Susan Moir Wilson, FBA (born 1941) is a British

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...

and cognitive scientist. She is emeritus professor of

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

and research professor at the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. Her most influential work has been in linguistic

pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the in ...

—specifically in the development of

Relevance Theory Relevance theory is a framework for understanding the interpretation of utterances. It was first proposed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, and is used within cognitive linguistics and pragmatics. The theory was originally inspired by the work o ...

with French anthropologist

Dan Sperber Dan Sperber (born 20 June 1942 in Cagnes-sur-Mer) is a French social and cognitive scientist and philosopher. His most influential work has been in the fields of cognitive anthropology, linguistic pragmatics, psychology of reasoning, and phil ...

. This work has been especially influential in the

Philosophy of Language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, the ...

. Important influences on Wilson are

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

Jerry Fodor Jerry Alan Fodor (; April 22, 1935 – November 29, 2017) was an American philosopher and the author of many crucial works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. His writings in these fields laid the groundwork for the modul ...

, and

Paul Grice Herbert Paul Grice (13 March 1913 – 28 August 1988), usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H. Paul Grice, or Paul Grice, was a British philosopher of language. He is best known for his theory of implicature and the cooperative princ ...

. Linguists and philosophers of language who have been students of Wilson include

Stephen Neale Stephen Roy Albert Neale (born 9 January 1958) is a British philosopher and specialist in the philosophy of language who has written extensively about meaning, information, interpretation, and communication, and more generally about issues at ...

(

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

), and

Robyn Carston Robyn Anne Carston, is a linguist and academic, who specialises in pragmatics, semantics, and the philosophy of language. Since 2005, she has been Professor of Linguistics at University College London. Early life and education Carston was born ...

(

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

Biography

Wilson completed her

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's d ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

while working with philosopher H. P. Grice. She completed her PhD (

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

) at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

with linguist

as her dissertation advisor. She was a lecturer at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Iri ...

Work

Wilson's work is in linguistic pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of how contextual factors interact with linguistic meaning in the interpretation of utterances.Wilson, D & Sperber, D. ''Meaning and Relevance''. Cambridge University Press. 2012. Her 1975 book ''Presuppositions and Non-Truth-Conditional Semantics'' advocated a pragmatic approach to presuppositions. In her longstanding collaboration with French Anthropologist

she has published many books and articles over 30 years. Their 1986 book ''Relevance: Communication and Cognition'' laid the foundation for

which they have continued to develop in subsequent books and articles. Relevance Theory is, roughly, the theory that the aim of an interpreter is to find an interpretation of the speaker's meaning that satisfies the presumption of optimal relevance. An input is relevant to an individual when it connects with available contextual assumptions to yield positive cognitive effects.

Publications

Novel *Wilson, D. ''Slave of the Passions''. Picador. 1992. Academic Books *Wilson, D. ''Presuppositions and Non-Truth-Conditional Semantics''. Academic Press. 1975. *Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. ''Relevance: Communication and Cognition''. Oxford University Press. 1986. *Wilson, D. & Sperber, D. ''Meaning and Relevance''. Cambridge University Press. 2012. Academic Articles *Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson, (2009) ''A Deflationary Account of Metaphor''.http://feeds.philpapers.org/autosense.pl?searchStr=Deirdre%20Wilson *Deirdre Wilson & Robyn Carston, (2007) ''Concepts''. *Deirdre Wilson & Robyn Carston (2006). ''Metaphor, Relevance and the 'Emergent Property' Issue''. *Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (2002). ''Pragmatics, Modularity and Mind-Reading''. *Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (2002). ''Truthfulness and Relevance''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Deirdre 1941 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English writers 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers 20th-century linguists 21st-century linguists 20th-century British philosophers 21st-century British philosophers 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Academics of University College London Alumni of the University of Oxford Linguists from the United Kingdom British women novelists British cognitive scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Noam Chomsky Philosophers of language Academic staff of the University of Oslo Women cognitive scientists Women linguists Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford