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 speakers utterance that is not part of what is explicitly said

GENERALIZED VS. PARTICULARIZED

PARTICULARIZED GENERALIZED

Depends on particular features of the context

Does not depend on particular features of the context but is instead typically associated with the proposition expressed

Example: A:Will Sally be at the meeting this afternoon? B: Her car broke down.

Example: Mary has 3 children.

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.

EXAMPLES
A: Am I in time for supper? B: Ive cleared the table A: Have you cleared the table and washed the dishes? B: Ive taken all the things off the table.

MORE EXAMPLES
A: The movie starts showing today. B: My parents havent given me my allowance A: Do I look good in this dress? B: It matches your shoes.

EXERCISE
Give an implication to each of the situations below.

1. A: Do you love me? B: Im quite fond of you.

3. A: Ive run out of petrol. B: Theres a garage just round the corner.

2. A: Do you like my new carpet?

B: The wallpaper is not bad.

4. A: Did you buy salt? B: I tried to.

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]

EXAMPLES
John killed Bill (X) Entails Bill died (Y) 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

How do we differentiate between the two?

IMPLICATURE VS. ENTAILMENT

IMPLICATURE
Non-truth based

ENTAILMENT Truth based

Can be cancelled without

resulting in a contradiction A notion of utterance meaning

Cannot be cancelled without

resulting in a contradiction A notion of sentence meaning

EXERCISE
Fill in an appropriate utterance for B, so that what he says implicates (but not entails) the conclusion.

1.) A: Lets 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: Bs local swimming pool has salt water. 4.) A: How much do I owe you now? B: Implicature: As debts are large and complicated to work out

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

COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
It is the overriding social rule which speakers generally try to follow in conversations. 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.

 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

MAXIM OF QUALITY
EXAMPLE:

Do not say what you believe to be false

A: Ill ring you tomorrow afternoon then. B: I shall be there, as far as I know,

Do not make unsupported statements

and in the meantime, have a word with Mum and Dad if theyre free.

MAXIM OF QUANTITY
EXAMPLE:
Make your contribution as informative as is required

A: Well, to cut the story short, she didnt get home till two.

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required

MAXIM OF RELATION
EXAMPLE: A: I mean, going back to your point,

Be relevant

an order form is a contract. If we are to put something in, then, lets keep it as general as possible. B: Yes

MAXIM OF MANNER
Avoid obscurity Avoid ambiguity 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 Be orderly

Avoid unnecessary prolixity

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 cars 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: Hes 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: Ive 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 mothers husband. Implication: Bs mothers husband is not Bs father

5.) A: Is Betsy in?

B: Her light is on. Implication: Betsys 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

EXAMPLES
QUANTITY QUALITY

A: Well, how do I look? B: Your shoes are nice.

Hyperbole I could eat a horse Metaphor Dont be such a wet blanket Irony If only you knew how much I

love being woken up at 4am.

Banter Youre nasty, mean and stingy. How can you only give me one kiss? Sarcasm This is a lovely uncooked egg youve given me here as usual. Yum!

RELATION - expect hearers to imagine what they did not say

MANNER - appears obscure, often trying to exclude a third party

A: Theres somebody at the door. B: Im in the bath.

Husband to a wife: I was thinking of going out to get some of that

funny white stuff for somebody.

EXERCISE
Identify which maxim is being flouted or violated

6. Traffic warden to motorist parked on double yellow line: Is this your car, sir? Motorist: I think its 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 mothers gone out shopping or she hasnt.

9. Babysitter: Ill look after Samantha for you, dont worry. Well have a lovely time. Mother: Great, but if you dont mind, dont 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
An independent pragmatic principle Leech has proposed to function alongside the cooperative principle First and foremost, a matter of what is said and not a matter of what is thought or believed Refers 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
Expressing pleasure at the hearers misfortunes

Saying bad things about the hearer or people or things related to the hearer

Disagreeing with the hearer thus denigrating the hearers thoughts

Treating the hearer as subservient to ones will

Choose expressions which minimally belittle the hearers status

Praising oneself or dwelling on ones 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)

-When FTAs are unavoidable, speakers can redress with either POSITIVE POLITENESS
Emphasizes the hearers positive status

NEGATIVE POLITENESS
Mitigates the effect of belittling expressions

Respects the need to be accepted

and liked by others, treated as a member of the group

Respects the hearers negative face

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, Im so stupid- I didnt 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 cant 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 hearers discomfort/displeasure maximize the hearers comfort/pleasure -softening, by various devices, of references to painful, distressing, embarrassing or shocking events, facts, things, etc. Example: That was great news about Jennifers Oscar.

FIN