Literature Review on Studies of Pragmatic Markers in the Courtroom Based on Relevance Theory

Pragmatic markers are always regarded as „smallwords‟, but they play a significant pragmatic role. In recent years, scholars have attempted to study pragmatic markers in informal situations, such as in daily conversations. While, there are few studies concentrating on the pragmatic markers in the courtroom. Besides, some relative studies base their studies of pragmatic markers on coherence-based approaches or politeness-based approaches, but they ignore the basic theory of successful communication related to speaker‟s cognition of applying pragmatic markers on Relevance Theory. Therefore, on the basis of the Relevance Theory, the paper attempts to review studies of pragmatic markers in the courtroom and to provide a reference for future study in this field. It is advised that more studies on how to effectively use pragmatic markers in the courtroom based on Relevance Theory should be made.