Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of

English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Lecture 4
Implicature

• Implicature
• Cooperative principles
• Types of implicature

l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t eImplicature
i n
• The implied meaning generated intentionally

• Grice makes a very general distinction

between what is said by a speaker and what
he means or implicates.

Pragmatics 1
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Example
- Some of the students are intelligent.
→ Not all the students are intelligent.

A: What would you like for your birthday?

B: Well, my camera is not working.
→ I like a camera.
l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t eImplicature
i n
Implicatures arise from the interaction of the
following 3 factors:

1. The proposition actually expressed in the

utterance.
2. Possibly certain features of the context.
3. The assumption that the speaker is obeying
the rules of conversation to the best of their
ability.

Pragmatics 2
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Cooperative Principle
• Make your conversational contribution such as is
required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange
in which you are engaged. (Yule, 1996, p.37)

• In other words, the listener presumes that the

speaker is being cooperative and is speaking
truthfully, informatively, relevantly, perspicuously,

l y
and appropriately
o n
s e
u
a l
rn
e
tMaxim of Quantity
i n

Maxim of Maxim of
Manner Quality

Maxim of Relation

Pragmatics 3
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conversational Maxims
1. The maxims of Quantity
a. Make your contribution as informative
as is required (for the current purposes
of the exchange).
b. Do not make your contribution more
informative than is required.
l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t e
Conversational Maxims
in
2. The maxims of Quality
Super-maxim: Try to make your
contribution one that is true

a. Do not say what you believe to be false

b. Do not say that for which you lack
evidence

Pragmatics 4
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conversational maxims
3. The maxim of Relation: Be relevant
4. The maxims of manner
Super-maxim: Be perspicuous
a. Avoid obscurity of expression
b. Avoid ambiguity
c. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)
d. Be orderly
l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t e
Conversational Maxims
innot, however, assume that all
• Grice did
people should constantly follow these
maxims. Instead, he found it interesting
when these were not respected, namely
either
• "flouted" (with the listener being expected
to be able to understand the message)
• or "violated" (with the listener being
expected to not note this).

Pragmatics 5
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conversational maxims
• We can use the conversational maxims to generate
implicatures by:
a. Adhering to the maxim
- I’ve run out of petrol
- There’s a garage just round the corner
b. Violating a maxim
- Where does John live?
- Somewhere in the South of England.
c. Flouting maxims: Violating a maxim is enforced (usually by
clashing maxims). Flouting is deliberate
- John is John. (Quantity)
l y
o n
- She produced a series of sounds that roughly
corresponded to the score of home Sweet Home. (Manner)

s e
u
a l
Typesrnof implicature
e
tcan be either
i n
• Implicature

conversational implicature

or conventional implicature.

Pragmatics 6
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conventional implicature
• Conventional implicature is an implicature
that is
• part of a lexical item’s or expression’s
agreed meaning, rather than derived from
principles of language use.
• not part of the conditions for the truth of
the item or expression.

l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t e
Conventional implicature
i n
Conventional meaning of the words
used will determine what is implicated.
- Even Bill likes Mary.
→
a. Other people besides Bill like Mary.
b. Of the people under consideration, Bill is
the least likely to like Mary.

Pragmatics 7
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conversational implicature
• A conversational implicature is not
intrinsically associated with any
expression.
• It is inferred from the use of some
utterance in context.
Alan : Are you going to Paul's party?

y
Cindy : I don't like parties.( No, I’m not )
l
on
s e
u
a l
r n
Conversational Implicature
e
t implicature is a
i n
• Conversational
nonconventional implicature based on an
addressee’s assumption that the speaker is
following the conversational maxims or at
least the cooperative principle.

Pragmatics 8
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Mechanics of Implicatures
1. The speaker has said that p.
2. If by saying p, the speaker does not
appear to be observing the maxims,
literally, the addressee nevertheless
assumes the speaker is observing the
maxims.
3. For S to say that p and be indeed
observing the maxims, S must think q.

l y
on
s e
u
a l
rn
t
Mechanics e of Implicatures
i n
4. S has done nothing to stop the addressee
from inferring that q.

5. Therefore S intends the addressee to

infer that q, and so in saying that p has
implicated q.

Pragmatics 9
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Example

A: Let’s get the kids something.

B: Okay, but I veto I-C-E C-R-E-A-M-S.

B flouts the maxim of manner

l y
on
s e
u
a l
r n
t e Example
i n
• One can flout the Maxim of Quality to tell a
clumsy friend who has just taken a bad fall
that her gracefulness is impressive and
obviously intends to mean the complete
opposite.
• The Maxims are therefore often purposefully
flouted by comedians and writers, who may
hide the complete truth and manipulate their
words for the effect of the story and the sake
of the reader's experience.

Pragmatics 10
Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of
English speaking countries/ ULIS – VNU

Conversational Conventional
implicatures implicatures
- Be in the particular - Depend on social
conversations✓ contexts×
- Depend on special
- Depend on the
contexts✓
meaning of a words✓

l y
o n
s e
u
a l
r n Conventional implicatures
t
Conversational e
i n
implicatures
Cooperative principle Meaning of words
- Adverbs (already, also, barely,
-Quantity either, only, scarcely, still, too, yet)
-Quality -Connectives (but, nevertheless, so,
therefore, yet)
-Relation
-Implicative verbs (bother,
-Manner condescend, continue, deign, fail, manage)

-Subordinating conjunctions
(although, despite (the fact that), even though)

Pragmatics 11