Issues of ecological rationality are concerned with psychological criteria of rationality in cognitive processes. Ecological rationality is a key term suggested for an alternative view of relationship between rationality and the phenomena of psychological reality being investigated (Gigerenzer). The study is focused on sociolinguistic conceptions, which define rationality of common talk due to functions of linguistic means and strategies in fulfilling psychological intentions and goals. The analyzed models of common talk (Grice) and common politeness (Brown Levinson) represent shifts from an initial emphasis on logical principles of rational communication to current analyses of psychological environment where language communication takes place. Psychological environment is defined in relationship to the meanings intended and negotiated, to their exchange between social actors in situational contexts of mutuality. Relevance of considerations about cological rationality for interpretation of common talk phenomena is documented by the studies of an irony as a politeness strategy.
