This volume explores how the effectiveness of communication is shaped by aspects of semantics and pragmatics such as compositionality, the role of the speaker and hearer, and the acquisition of meaning. "Optimal Communication "surveys recent research in the fields of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and draws from optimality theory to argue that optimal meanings result from a compromise between competing constraints. "Optimal Communication" will be an invaluable resource for students in cognitive science, linguistics, and natural language semantics.

Emphasizing the unique and sometimes competing demands of listener and speaker, this book draws on linguistic theory, psycholinguistic studies and computational modeling to examine resulting asymmetries between the production and comprehension of language.