PRESUPPOSITION AND IMPLICATURES

Presupposition:
A presupposition is an idea or opinion, which is not formally stated. At the
same time, it is understood and taken for granted in order for an utterance
(unit of speech; it can be a sentence or part of a sentence) or a statement to
make sense. For example, the statement ‘John’s presentation was well received’
presupposes that ‘John gave a presentation’.

Implicatures

An implicature is something that is suggested but not formally expressed. In

order to understand an implicature, the listener or reader must take the
context (background and situation) and the corresponding contextual meaning
(meaning based on the context or situation) into account.

Example:
A: “John ate the cookies”
B: “I figured he would. How many are left?

B’s question suggests one thing: John didn’t eat all the cookies or B hopes he
didn’t eat all. This is called implicature.

In contrast to this is explicature – anything that is stated openly and clearly.