Teacher: Dr.

Abdennour Kharraki
Course: Semantics & Pragmatics
Academic year: 2020/2021

Conversational Implicature

1. Introduction
In the previous lecture, we attempted to demonstrate how Austin made the distinction
between what speakers say and what they mean. In the present lecture, we will see
how Grice’s (1971; 1975) theory put much focus on the role of the hearer to
disentangle what the speaker wants to mean or to imply. This is known in the
pragmatic literature as implicature.

2. Implicature
Grice distinguishes between two types of implicature, namely conventional
implicature and conversational implicature. In this lecture, however, the emphasis has
been made on the latter form of implicature.

2.1 Cooprative Principle (CP)

Explaining mechanisms that conversants adopt in interpreting a conversation, Grice,
the father of pragmatics, put forward the Cooprative Principle (or CP for short)
which is the sum total of sub-principles or conversational maxims. He argued that
human beings communicate efficiently because they are by nature helpful to one
another; or cooperative in their day to day conversation. The principles which
underlie the cooperative behaviour are four maxims or rules of conversation which
can together be summarized into one general principle: “BE COOPERATIVE”.

2.1.1 Maxim of Quantity

 make your contribution as informative as required;
 Do not make your contribution more informative than required.

2.1.2 Maxim of Quality

 Do not say what you believe to be false;
 Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
2.1.3 Maxim of Relevance
 Make your contribution relevant
 2.1.4 Maxim of Manner
 Be perspicuous, and specifically:
-avoid obscurity
-avoid ambiguity
-be brief
-be orderly

The following is a diagram representing this theory of cooperation.

COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

Maxim of Quantity Maxim of Quality Maxim of Relation Maxim of Manner

Note that CP is viewed as a superordinate of the four maxims.

2.2 Flouting Maxims

We deal first with the maxim of quality.

2.2.1 Flouting the maxim of quantity

Suppose you were in a party, and someone inquired about the health of you mother. A
cooperative reply requires from you to be as informative as possible, without giving
unnecessary information.
(1)
Ali: How is your mother doing after the medical operation?
Ahmed: She is doing well. We are expecting her
to be better in the days to come.

An uncooperative reply would be an over-brief one such as “ OK!” or an over-long

one. “She is doing well. We are expecting her to be better in the days to come.
Yesterday the doctor paid her a visit at home. He reexamined her and gave her some
medicines.

2.2.2 Flouting the maxim of quality

Be truthful by avoiding any type of false information. Consider the following
exchange for illustration.
-Mohamed: What would you slaughter to celebrate Al-adha Aid.
-Omar: We would slaughter a cat.

The answer of Omar is false. It does not have any basis in the real world. So to avoid
flouting the maxim Omar needs to say, “We slaughter sheep”.
2.2.3 Flouting the Maxim of Relevance
Be relevant. That is, one should not say information which does not have any bearing
on the subject we are concerned.
-Ali: What is your mark in mathematics, Noufaisa?
-Noufaisa: You know Ali, I will travel to Marrakech this summer.

2.2.4 Flouting the Maxim of Manner

Be clear and orderly. We need to say information clearly according to their order. We
should not for example mix events in the following:

-“The plane taxied down the runway, and took off to the west” rather than
-“The plane took off to the west and taxied down the runway.”