Discussion 5 Implicature

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LING 307: ELMNTS SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS TOPIC 4: GRICE’S THEORY OF IMPLICATURE DISCUSSION SECTION 02/17/23 9:00-9:50

REVIEW What did Grice mean in claiming that conversation is cooperative ? • Cooperative Principle – the idea that interlocutors are attempting to be cooperative in conversation • Listener’s interpretation depends on the assumption that the speaker is being cooperative • Grice (1975): 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 engage.  What about when two people are having an argument?

REVIEW Grice’s 4 Maxims of Conversation : Maxim of Quantity : Say enough, but don’t say too much Maximum of Quality : Say only what you have reason to believe is true Maxim of Relation : Say only what is relevant Maxim of Manner : Be brief, clear, and unambiguous Speakers may: follow , violate , flout , or opt out of any given maxim

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REVIEW Grice’s 4 Maxims of Conversation : Maxim of Quantity : a. Make your contribution as informative as is required. b. Don’t make your contribution more informative than is required. Maximum of Quality : c. Do not say what you believe is false. d. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. Maxim of Relation : e. Be relevant Maxim of Manner : f. Avoid obscurity of expression. g. Avoid ambiguity h. Be brief. i. Be orderly. Speakers may: follow , violate , flout , or opt out of any given maxim

REVIEW Violating maxims… Quantity : “[The cows are provided with] an appropriate environment, including shelter and a comfortable resting area, … sufficient space, proper facilities and the company of their own kind.”  In order to obey maxim of Quality, information on whether cows have access to pastures is left out. Quality : • An utterance containing a lie : a. A proposition which is false b. Speaker intends it to be false c. Speaker intends to deceive Relation : Q: Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks? A: The company had an account there for about 6 months.  Maxim of Relation (& Quantity) are violated in order to obey maxim of Quality. Manner : • Speaker’s use of obscure terms for their own benefit (e.g. to impress potential employers at a job talk/interview)

REVIEW Flouting maxims… (blatant violations) Quantity : “Ralph has excellent handwriting, and attends class often. Sincerely, Prof. Wanda Smith.”  Recommendation letter lists none of the qualities needed for the position. Speaker is implicating that Ralph lacks them. Quality : • Irony, metaphor, hyperbole, sarcasm, etc. “Everybody loves junk food.” ”It’s time to wave the white flag.” Relation : Susan’s husband tells her he saw a unicorn in the garden. Susan: “The unicorn is a mythical beast.”  Lack of excitement in Susan’s response & blatant violation of maxim. Implicature: Susan’s husband could not have seen a unicorn. Manner : • Being purposefully obscure to implicate that an outsider should not be aware of the conversational content.  Code phrases in spy movies

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REVIEW What are the three main ways Grice recognized that speakers could use the maxims to generate conversational implicatures? • Group A : speaker deliberately says something that would violate one or more maxims, unless some additional information is assumed to maintain that the speaker is trying to be cooperative.  The additional information is what the speaker implicates. Example : John runs out of gas while driving; he’s stranded at the side of the road. Mary comes along and asks him what’s wrong; John says that he’s out of gas. Mary: “There is a gas station around the corner.”  to interpret Mary’s utterance as conforming to the Maxim of Relation, John must assume that gas is available at the gas station.

REVIEW What are the three main ways Grice recognized that speakers could use the maxims to generate conversational implicatures? • Group B : speaker says something which does violate a maxim, but the violation is explainable as due to a reluctance to violate some other, more important maxim, with which it clashes.  The information needed to assume the clash is what the speaker implicates. Example : Fred: “Just where in France do your friends live, anyway?” Susan: “Um, somewhere in France.”  Susan implicates that she does not know precisely where her friends live. She doesn’t want to violate the Maxim of Quality (say only what you believe is true), so she violates the Maxim of Quantity (be as informative as needed) instead.

REVIEW What are the three main ways Grice recognized that speakers could use the maxims to generate conversational implicatures? • Group C : A speaker flouts a maxim: they make an utterance whose conventional meaning violates a maxim in a blatant, deliberate way.  The listener assumes that the speaker is implicating something which does conform to the maxim being violated. Example : “Ralph has excellent handwriting, and attends class often. Sincerely, Prof. Wanda Smith.”  Any reader would take this as a horrible recommendation letter; Prof. Smith is flouting the Maxim of Quantity, implicating that Ralph is a poor student.

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REVIEW What are scalar implicatures ? • Based on the first submaxim of Quantity (make your contribution as informative as is required). • The utterance of a given value on a scale will implicate that, to the speaker’s knowledge, no higher value applies (if it did, it would have been uncooperative not to utter that higher value). It’s cool outside.  It’s not freezing outside. I ate most of the pizza.  I didn’t eat all of the pizza. I have two children.  I don’t have any more than two children.

REVIEW What is the difference between generalized and particularized implicatures? • Generalized CI – generally attached to the form of the sentence & does not need to be computed anew with each relevant utterance. Most of the mothers were Victorian  Not all of the mothers were Victorian Most X  Not all X  Scalar implicatures as a class are generalized! • Particularized CI – unique to the particular context in which they occur. The unicorn is a mythical beast  You didn’t see a unicorn  Does not generalize to a larger class of cases like “the X is a Y”  “you did not see X”

REVIEW What is the difference between generalized conversational implicatures and conventional implicatures? • Conventional CI – consistently attached to a particular linguistic expression, regardless of context He is English. He is, therefore, brave.  being brave follows from being English Clover is a lab retriever, but she’s very friendly.  contrast between the breed & friendliness  not conversational • Generalized CI – generally attached to the form of the sentence & does not need to be computed anew with each relevant utterance. Most of the mothers were Victorian  Not all of the mothers were Victorian Most X  Not all X  are still conversational (for instance, are cancellable and context-dependent)

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PRACTICE Instructions: In each of the following seven examples, Speaker A makes an utterance and Speaker B responds. One of the two speakers makes an implicature, which is described in parentheses afterwards. Explain how this implicature arises , in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation. Sample: A: Have you cleared the table and washed the dishes? B: I’ve cleared the table. (B implicates that B has not washed the dishes.) Explanation: B fails to give a complete answer to A's question  B violates the First Maxim of Quantity. Why is B behaving in this apparently uncooperative way? A plausible explanation: B could not report that B had washed the dishes without violating the First Maxim of Quality, which is judged to be more important than the First Maxim of Quantity. B is in a position to know whether B has washed the dishes or not  the only way such a report could violate the First Maxim of Quality is if B had not washed the dishes.

PRACTICE: #1 Question: A: Have you done all of your homework? B: I’ve done some of it. (B implicates that B has not done all of B’s homework.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

PRACTICE: #2 Question: A: I am an excellent tennis player. B: Yeah, and I’m the queen of England. (B implicates that A is not an excellent tennis player.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

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PRACTICE: #3 Question: A: I’ll pay you $20 if you mow my lawn. B: OK (A implicates that A will not pay B $20 unless B mows A’s lawn.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

PRACTICE: #4 Question: A: Are you going to the concert? B: I’ve got my ticket right here. (B implicates that B is going to the concert.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

PRACTICE: #5 Question: A: Did you get the sheep in the barn? B: I tried. (B implicates that B did not get the sheep in the barn.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

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PRACTICE: #6 Question: A: Do you want to work the night shift? B: I’m willing to, if it is necessary. (B implicates that B is not enthusiastic about working the night shift.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

PRACTICE: #7 Question: A: Tables 3, 5 and 9 still need their checks. B: OK. (A implicates that other tables do not still need their checks.) How does this implicature arise, in terms of Grice's Maxims of Conversation?

REMINDERS Assignment 5 is due Friday, February 24 9:00am

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