Conversational implicatures are the paradigm example of a pragmatic inference: meaning derived not from the words themselves but from the way those words are used in a particular context. They are an indispensable part of our everyday communication. In order for a hearer to correctly interpret the part of the speaker’s intended meaning which is not encoded by the words themselves, these implicatures must be derived in a systematic way, based on principles which are known to both speaker and hearer. Grice proposed a fairly simple account of these principles, starting with some basic assumptions about the nature of conversation as a cooperative activity. Some later modifications to Grice’s theory will be mentioned in Chapter 9.
Further reading
Levinson (1983: ch. 3) and Birner (2012/2013: ch. 2) present good introductions to Grice’s treatment of conversational implicature. Grice’s most famous papers (e.g. 1975; 1978; 1981) are also quite readable. (References to more recent work on conversational implicature will be provided in the next chapter.)
Discussion exercises
A. Identifying types of inference. For each of the examples in (1–4), determine whether the inference triggered by the statement is (A) a particularized conversational implicature, (B) a generalized conversational implicature, (C) a presupposition, (D) an entailment, or (E) none of these.
(1) stated: My mother is the mayor of Waxahachie.
inferred: The mayor of Waxahachie is a woman.
(2) stated: That man is either Martha’s brother or her boyfriend.
inferred: The speaker does not know whether the man is Martha’s brother or boyfriend.
(3) stated: My great-grandfather was arrested this morning for drag racing.
inferred: I have a great-grandfather.
(4) stated: That’s a great joke – Ham, Shem and Japheth couldn’t stop laughing when they heard it from Noah.
inferred: The joke has lost some of its freshness.
For each of the sentences in (5), determine what inference is most likely to be triggered by the statement, and what kind of inference it is, using the same five options as above.
(5) a. I didn’t realize that they are husband and wife.
b. Charles continues to wear a cabbage on his head.
c. It is possible that we are related.
d. Who stole my durian smoothie?
e. Q: Who is that guy over there?
A: That is the male offspring of my parents.a
f. Arthur is almost as unscrupulous as Susan.
(6) What kind of inference is involved in the following joke?
Q: How many months have 28 days?
A: All of them.
a Kearns (2000).
Homework exercises
A. Conversational implicature. For each pair of sentences, (i) identify the likely implicature carried by B’s reply; (ii) state which maxim is most important in triggering the implicature, and (iii) explain how the implicature is derived.a
(1) A: Are you coming out for a pint tonight?
B: My in-laws are coming over for dinner.
(2) A: Who is that couple?
B: That is my mother and her husband.
(3) A: Did you enjoy having your sister and her family come to visit?
B: The children were perfect angels. We didn’t really want that antique table anyway, and I’m sure the cat likes to have its tail pulled.
(4) A: Jones has just taken a second mortgage on his house.
B: I think I saw him at the casino last weekend.
(5) A: Did you make us a reservation for dinner tonight?
B: I meant to.
B. Presupposition, Entailment, Implicature.b What is the relation (if any) between each statement and the bracketed statements which follow? Pick one of the following four answers: Presupposition; Entailment; Conversational Implicature; no inference.
(6) John is allegedly a good player.
[John is a good player.]
(7) Oscar and Jenny are middle-aged.
[Jenny is middle-aged.]
(8) Maria is an Italian radiologist.
a. [Some Italian is a radiologist.]
b. [Maria is Italian.]
(9) Not everyone will get the correct answer.
[Someone will get the correct answer.]
(10) Pete installed new cabinets after Hans painted the walls.
[Hans painted the walls.]
(11) Dempsey and Tunney fought in Philadelphia in September (1926).
[Dempsey and Tunney fought each other.]
(12) John believes that pigs do not have wings.
[Pigs do not have wings.]
(13) John realizes that pigs do not have wings.
[Pigs do not have wings.]
(14) Don is at home or at work.
a. [Don is at home.]
b. [I don’t know whether Don is at home or at work.]
(15) My older brother called.
[I have an older brother.]
(16) Max has quit jogging, at least until his ankle heals.
a. [Max does not jog now.]
b. [Max used to jog.]
a adapted from Saeed (2009: 226, ex. 7.6).
b Adapted from MIT course notes.
