Relevance Theory

Relevance Theory (RT) is a relatively new branch of linguistics developed by the British linguists Sperber and Wilson. It focuses on coherence in communication which derives from explicit and implicit information which pertains to a speech situation. Relevance theory builds upon insights in pragmatics. Much of relevance theory promises to be quite relevant (!) to issues concerning translation, as shown by Ernst-August Gutt, in his books listed below.
See:
• Relevance: Communication and Cognition, by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson
• Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context, by Ernst-August Gutt
• Relevance Theory: A Guide To Successful Communication in Translation, by Ernst-August Gutt, 1992. SIL and UBS.
• Relevance Theory: Applications and Implications (Pragmatics & Beyond. New Series, 37), edited by Robyn Carston, Nam Sun Song, and Seiji Uchida
• Understanding Utterances: An Introduction to Pragmatics (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics), by Diane Blakemore