The image: interpretation and communication

Abstract

The purpose of the present article is to present some explanatory evidence of Sperber and Wilson’s (1995) Relevance theory in the interpretative/communicative treatment of the image in counterpoint with semiotic studies based on Pierce (1938-1951), specifically in the semantic relation established between the sign and its object. In the illustrative analysis of a cartoon, according to Relevance, one emphasizes the fundamental significance of the cognitive context in the construction of inferential processes for understanding, while foregrounding the fact that interpretation, beyond the visual image, requires cognitive and perceptive capabilities that are not considered at the explanatory level of the semiotic theory, essentially based on the code.