CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURES

BLL 116 – Group 4

IMPLICATURES

Propositions or assumptions not encoded, complete or

incomplete, in what is actually said

The implied meaning generated intentionally by the

speaker

What is meant by the speaker’s utterance that is not

part of what is explicitly said

Depends on particular

features of the context

Example:

A:Will Sally be at the meeting

this afternoon?

B: Her car broke down.

Does not depend on

particular features of the

context but is instead

typically associated with the

proposition expressed

Example:

Mary has 3 children.

GENERALIZED VS. PARTICULARIZED

PARTICULARIZED GENERALIZED

HOW DO IMPLICATURES ARISE?

1.The assumption that the speaker is obeying the rules

of conversation to the best of their ability.

2.It arises from the proposition actually expressed in

the utterance.

3.It is possible from certain features of the context.

A: Am I in time for

supper?

B: I’ve cleared the table

EXAMPLES

A: Have you cleared the

table and washed the

dishes?

B: I’ve taken all the

things off the table.

A: The movie starts

showing today.

B: My parents haven’t

given me my allowance

MORE EXAMPLES

A: Do I look good in this

dress?

B: It matches your shoes.

1. A: Do you love me?

B: I’m quite fond of you.

2. A: Do you like my new

carpet?

B: The wallpaper is not

bad.

3. A: I’ve run out of petrol.

B: There’s a garage just

‘round the corner.

4. A: Did you buy salt?

B: I tried to.

EXERCISE

Give an implication to each of the situations below.

ENTAILMENTS

ENTAILMENT

∞Under certain conditions the truth of one statement

ensures the truth of a second statement

∞Based firmly in truth

[ a proposition X ENTAILS a proposition Y, I

the truth of Y follows necessarily from the truth of X]

John killed Bill (X)

Entails

Bill died (Y)

EXAMPLES

Alan lives in Toronto

(X)

entails

Alan lives in Canada

(Y)

EXERCISE

1)John boiled an egg entails John cooked an egg.

C / I

2)Mark ate all the kippers entails Someone ate all the

kippers. C / I

3)No one has led a perfect life entails Someone has led a

perfect life C / I

∞Cannot be cancelled as it results to a complication

Example:

I killed Eric (X) entails Eric did not die (Y)

Y is in contradiction of X

IMPLICATURE VS.

ENTAILMENT

How do we differentiate between the two?

ξ Non-truth based

ξ Can be cancelled

without resulting in a

contradiction

ξ A notion of utterance

meaning

ξTruth based

ξCannot be cancelled

without resulting in a

contradiction

ξA notion of sentence

meaning

IMPLICATURE ENTAILMENT

EXERCISE

Fill in an appropriate utterance for B, so that what he says

implicates (but not entails) the conclusion.

1.) A: Let’s try the new Arab restaurant ‘round the

corner.

B:

Implicature: Arab restaurants are not likely to serve

vegetarian food.

2.) A: Meet me at Piccadilly Circus at midnight.

B:

Implicature: Piccadilly Circus is not a safe place to

be at midnight.

3.) A: Do you use your local swimming pool very

much?

B:

Implicature: B’s local swimming pool has salt

water.

4.) A: How much do I owe you now?

B:

Implicature: A’s debts are large and complicated

to work out

COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

How does a hearer make reasonable

inferences from an utterance when the actual

sentence uttered does not, in fact, entail some

of the inferences he makes?

COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

Ψ It is the overriding social rule which speakers

generally try to follow in conversations.

Ψ According to Grice, “Make your conversational

contribution such as is required, at the stage which

it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the

talk exchange in which you are engaged.”

Ψ This principle is elaborated by a set of maxims, which spell

out what it means to cooperate in a conversational way.

Maxim of

Quality

Maxim of

Quantity

Maxim of

Relation

Maxim of

Manner

Do not say what you believe to be false

Do not make unsupported statements

MAXIM OF QUALITY

EXAMPLE:

A: I’ll ring you tomorrow

afternoon then.

B: I shall be there, as far as I

know, and in the meantime,

have a word with Mum and

Dad if they’re free.

Make your contribution as informative as is required

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required

MAXIM OF QUANTITY

EXAMPLE:

A: Well, to cut the story

short, she didn’t get home till

two.

Be releva

nt

MAXIM OF RELATION

EXAMPLE:

A: I mean, going back to your

point, an order form is a

contract. If we are to put

something in, then, let’s keep

it as general as possible.

B: Yes

Avoid obscurity

Avoid ambiguity

Avoid unnecessary prolixity

Be orderly

MAXIM OF MANNER

EXAMPLE:

A: Thank you, Chairman. Just

to clarify one point. There is a

meeting of the Police

Committee on Monday and

there is an item on their

budget for the provision of

their camera.

EXERCISE

Say whether the crucial assumption leading the hearer to this

implicature involves the maxim of quantity, quality, relevance or

manner.

1) A: My car’s broken down.

B: There is a garage ‘round the corner.

Implicature: The garage is open and has a mechanic who

might repair the fault.

2.) A: What subjects is Jack taking?

B: He’s not taking Linguistics.

Implicature: B does not know exactly which

subjects Jack is taking.

3.) A: Have you brushed your teeth and tidied your

room?

B: I’ve brushed my teeth.

Implication: B has not tidied his room.

4.) A: Who was the man you were talking to?

B: That man was m mother’s husband.

Implication: B’s mother’s husband is not B’s father

5.) A: Is Betsy in?

B: Her light is on.

Implication: Betsy’s light being on is usually a sign

of whether she is in or not.

FLOUTING & VIOLATING MAXIMS

Flouting – overtly breaking a maxim

Violating – covertly breaking a maxim

Intended to be perceived as deliberate by the hearer, but at the

same time as nonetheless intending a sincere communication

The speaker assumes that the hearer knows that their words

should not be taken at face value and that they can infer the

implicit meaning

A: Well, how do I look?

B: Your shoes are nice.

Hyperbole – I could eat a horse

Metaphor – Don’t be such a wet

blanket

Irony– If only you knew how much I

love being woken up at 4am.

Banter – You’re nasty, mean and stingy.

How can you only give me one kiss?

Sarcasm – This is a lovely uncooked

egg you’ve given me here as usual.

Yum!

QUANTITY QUALITY

EXAMPLES

A: There’s somebody at

the door.

B: I’m in the bath.

Husband to a wife: I was

thinking of going out to

get some of that funny

white stuff for somebody.

RELATION

- expect hearers to imagine

what they did not say

MANNER

- appears obscure, often trying

to exclude a third party

I d e n t i f y w h i c h m a x i m i s b e i n g fl o u t e d o r v i o l a t e d

6. Traffic warden to motorist parked on double yellow line: Is this your car, sir? Motorist: I think it’s going to rain.

7. Mother: What did you have for lunch? Daughter: I had 87 warmed baked beans, although 8 of them were slightly crushed, served on a slice of toast 12.7 cm by 10.3 cm which had been unevenly toasted…

8. Policeman at the front door: Is your father or mother home?

Small boy : Either my mother’s gone out shopping or she hasn’t.

EXERCISE

9. Babysitter: I’ll look after Samantha for you, don’t

worry. We’ll have a lovely time.

Mother: Great, but if you don’t mind, don’t offer

her any post-prandial concoctions involving

supercooled oxide of hydrogen. It usually gives rise to

convulsive nausea.

10. Father: Now, tell me truth. Who put the ferret in

the bathtub?

Son: Someone put it there.

POLITENESS PRINCIPLE

POLITENESS PRINCIPLE

δAn independent pragmatic principle Leech has proposed to

function alongside the cooperative principle

δFirst and foremost, a matter of what is said and not a matter

of what is thought or believed

δRefers to the choices that are made in language use, the

linguistic expressions that give people space and show a

friendly attitude to them

The purpose of politeness is the maintenance of harmonious and smooth

social relations in the face of the necessity to convey belittling messages

Choose expressions

which minimally belittle the

hearer’s status

Treating the hearer as

subservient to one’s will

Saying bad things about the hearer

or people or things

related to the hearer

Expressing pleasure at the hearer’s misfortunes

Disagreeing with the

hearer thus denigrating the hearer’s

thoughts

Praising oneself or

dwelling on one’s good fortune or superiority

FTA

Brown and Levinson analyzed politeness and said that in

order to enter into social relationships, we have to

acknowledge and show an awareness of the face, the public

self-image the sense of self, of the people we address. They

said that it is a universal characteristic across cultures that

speakers should respect each others’ expectations regarding

self-image, take account of their feelings and avoid FTAs.

Face Threatening Acts (FTAs)

жEmphasizes the hearer’s

positive status

жRespects the need to be

accepted and liked by others,

treated as a member of the

group

жMitigates the effect of

belittling expressions

жRespects the hearer’s

negative face

POSITIVE POLITENESS NEGATIVE POLITENESS

-When FTAs a re unavo idab le , speakers can redress w i th e i ther…

POLITENESS MAXIMS

TACT MAXIM

Minimize cost to the hearer

Maximize benefit to the hearer

-in order to get a hearer to do something which involves a

cost, a polite speaker will cast his utterance in a form which

softens the effect of the impositive (includes commands,

requests, beseechments, etc.)

Example:

Could I interrupt you for half a second- what was that website

address?

GENEROSITY MAXIM

Minimize benefit to self

Maximize cost to self

-Offers to do something which involves benefit to her hearer

but cost to the speaker must be made as directly as possible.

Example:

Could I copy down that web address?

PRAISE MAXIM

Minimize dispraise of other

Maximize praise of other

-Tone down any criticism or unfavorable comment and to exaggerate

praise

Examples:

Mary, you are very efficient and make notes of everything- you must

have a copy of that website address we were given today.

MODESTY MAXIM

Minimize praise of self

Maximize dispraise of self

-Toning down self-congratulation

Example:

Oh, I’m so stupid- I didn’t make note of that website address!

Did you?

AGREEMENT MAXIM

minimize disagreement with the hearer

maximize agreement with the hearer

-begin with a partial agreement before expressing

disagreement

Example:

A: She should be sacked immediately. We can’t tolerate

unpunctuality.

B: (disagrees) I agree with the general principle, but in this

case, there are mitigating circumstances.

SYMPATHY MAXIM

maximize sympathy towards the hearer

minimize antipathy towards the hearer

-renders congratulations and commiserations or condolences

inherently polite acts

Example:

I was sorry to hear about your father

CONSIDERATION MAXIM

minimize the hearer’s discomfort/displeasure

maximize the hearer’s comfort/pleasure

-softening, by various devices, of references to painful,

distressing, embarrassing or shocking events, facts, things,

etc.

Example:

That was great news about Jennifer’s Oscar.

FIN