Relevance theorists like Sperber and Wilson show that hearers enrich or adjust the literal content directly rather than inferring a wholly separate meaning, collapsing the literal/non-literal distinction the claim presupposes.
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Non-literal meaning(as contrasted with literal meaning)
Meaning that goes beyond what the words literally say—like when someone says 'it's raining cats and dogs' and doesn't mean animals are falling from the sky.
Relevance theorists(as the main subject of the statement)
Philosophers who study how people understand communication by focusing on what information is most useful or important in a given situation, rather than just the bare words being used.
Sperber and Wilson(in philosophy of language and communication)
Two cognitive scientists who developed Relevance Theory, an influential explanation of how people actually understand communication based on what information seems most useful to them.