<p>My general aim in this work has been to provide an alternative, sociocognitive perspective on Gricean pragmatics in general and on flouting and flout-based meaning in particular. My specific aim has been to take some fundamental steps towards a<i> theory</i> of flouting and flout-based meaning. In fulfilment of these aims, I have deconstructed certain basic theoretical notions which are central both to Gricean pragmatics and to the specific issue of flouting and flout-based meaning, and reconstructed them from within Bakhtinian dialogism and the dialogically based socio-cognitive approach. During this process, the notion of cooperation as interpretational drive has been replaced by the notions of <i>reciprocal response-readiness</i>, <i>socialized interpretational drive,</i> and <i>imposed thematic relevance</i>; maxims have been re-interpreted and subsumed under a general notion of <i>intersubjective constraints</i> on <i>interaction</i>, and context has been explicated as <i>socio-cognitive context.</i> Finally, flouting has been defined as providing <i>imposed thematic relevance</i>, and the effects of this type of relevance on the hearer, that is, <i>heightened attention</i> and <i>increased interpretational activity</i>, have been explored.</p>

My general aim in this work has been to provide an alternative, sociocognitive perspective on Gricean pragmatics in general and on flouting and flout-based meaning in particular. My specific aim has been to take some fundamental steps towards a theory of flouting and flout-based meaning. In fulfilment of these aims, I have deconstructed certain basic theoretical notions which are central both to Gricean pragmatics and to the specific issue of flouting and flout-based meaning, and reconstructed them from within Bakhtinian dialogism and the dialogically based socio-cognitive approach. During this process, the notion of cooperation as interpretational drive has been replaced by the notions of reciprocal response-readiness, socialized interpretational drive, and imposed thematic relevance; maxims have been re-interpreted and subsumed under a general notion of intersubjective constraints on interaction, and context has been explicated as socio-cognitive context. Finally, flouting has been defined as providing imposed thematic relevance, and the effects of this type of relevance on the hearer, that is, heightened attention and increased interpretational activity, have been explored.