Implicature

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CFI, RabatModule: Linguistics

Pragmatics: Implicature

Trainee: M. Bedraoui Trainer: Mr. A. Oulbouch

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Objectives

We will be able to

1. get acquainted with implicature.2. distinguish between an implicature and an

entailment.3. identify types of implicatures.4. discuss the implications of implicature for ELT.

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OutlineI. What is an Implicature?

1. Implicature and Entailment2. Examples3. Features of Implicatures

II. What are the Types of Implicature?1. Conversational Implicature

1. The Cooperative Principle

2. The Conversational Maxims

3. Types of Conversational Implicature

2. Conventional Implicature

III. How can knowledge about implicature be useful in foreign language teaching?

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Question 1

What is an Implicature?

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Food for thought What does she

say?I want to know whether you are going to

wear that tie.

Sentence meaning

Semantic meaning

entailment

What does she mean?

You are not really planning to go in public wearing that tie, are you?

Speaker meaning

Pragmatic meaning

implicature

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Implicature and Entailment

What is an entailment? What is an implicature?

“a meaning that is present on every occasion when an expression occurs.” (Grundy: 2000, 73)

“any meaning which is conveyed indirectly or through hints, and understood implicitly without ever being explicitly stated.”

(Grundy: 2000, 73)

A: Would you like some coffee? B: It will keep me awake.

Entailment=>…………………………

Implicature +>……………………

Implicature and Entailment

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Entail: is meant to cover the family of verbs that

refer to the literal meaning of a sentence,

such as ‘say’ and ‘assert’.

Implicate: is meant to cover the family of

verbs such as ‘imply’, ‘suggest’, ‘mean’, which refer to the

meaning of an utterance as

understood in a given context.

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Implicature: a neology by Paul Grice (1913- 1988)

He was a British language philosopher who made remarkable contributions

to the field of pragmatics.

His most influential work relates to his analysis of speaker meaning and his account of conversational implicature.

His legacy is encapsulated in such widely used phrases as “Gricean Cooperative Principle”, “Gricean Maxims”, “Gricean Intention”, and “Gricean Reasoning”.

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More Examples

A: Will Sally be at the meeting this afternoon?

B: Her car broke down. Entailment=>…………………….. Implicature+>……………….

A: Do you like linguistics?

B:. Well, let’s just say I don’t jump for joy before classEntailment =>………………… Implicature +>………………..

An advertisement of Coca-Cola says:It’s the taste.Entailment =>…………… Implicature +>…………………….

Implicatures are context-dependent

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•+> It is the unique taste that people look for.

A slogan in an advertisement for Coca

Cola

•+> I found the taste awful.

An utterance made by a daughter to answer why

she left her sandwich intact.

•+> The product is in vogue .

An utterance made by a shop assistant about a

product

An expression with a single meaning (expressing the same proposition) can give rise to different conversational implicatures in different contexts.

Example: It’s the taste.

Implicatures are cancellable

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An implicature can be cancelled if additional premises are added without causing contradictions.

John is visiting Pat. He and Pat are watching TV. in a room with open windows. John says:“It’s a bit chilly here”

• +> I want to have the windows closed• => The temperature is low.

John may go on and add:“It’s a bit chilly in here, but I do not want you to close the windows.”

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Task 1

In some cases, the second sentence is

semantically related to the first (an entailment or a presupposition). In other cases it is an implicature . Identify the meanings of the second sentences.

Question 2

What are the Types of Implicature?

Types of Implicature

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Implicature

Conversational

Implicature

Conventional implicature

Types of Implicature

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Implicatures

Conversational

Particularized

Generalized

Indefinite

ScalarConventional

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Conversational Implicature

Conversational implicatures are the assumptions suggested by the speaker and inferred by the hearer in an exchange situation. These assumptions are not encoded in the words said but are generated by the interlocuters’ cooperation to achieve rational communication.

Speaker

Hearer

Cooperation

The cooperative principle

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The Cooperative Principle

It is an umbrella term for the principles that guide our conversation.

Grice called these rules Maxims of Conversation.

The maxims are:

The Quality Maxim

(truthfulness) The Quantity

Maxim

(informativeness) The Relevance

Maxim

Manner Maxim

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.

Meet certain principles

Relevance

TruthfulnessInformativenessmanner

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Do not say what you

believe to be false

A: I might win the lottery.B: Yes, and pigs might fly!+>………………………

Quality Maxims Quantity Relevance Manner

Flouting the maxim implicature

To flout a maxim: to blatantly fail to fulfill it and the hearer recognizes that the maxim is not fulfilled.

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Do not say that for which

you lack adequate evidence

A: Where is he right now?

B: People say he is in prison.

+>………………………..

Quality Maxims Quantity Relevance Manner

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Make your contribution to a conversation as informative as

possible

Do not make your contribution more informative than

is required.

A: How are you?B: my recent medical check up came out negative, my wife was fired, my dog is ill and I am soon expecting my fifth child.

+>………………………..

A: Where are you going?B: Out.

+>………………………….

Quality Maxims Quantity Maxims Relevance Manner

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Be relevan

t

A: Where's the roast beef? B1: The dog looks happy+>…………………………

A: Is the chicken good? B: I once tried one of their

entrees. Now I always go for the salad.

+>…………………………….

Quality Maxims Quantity Maxims Relevance Maxim Manner

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Avoid obscurity

of expression

Avoid ambiguity

Be brief

Be orderly

A: Let's get the kids something.B: OK, but not I-C-E C-R-E-A-M.+>…………………………….

A: Did John like the joke?B: His lips turned slightly

upwards.+>…………………………….

A: what happened?B: The teacher came in and the

students left.+>………………………………

Quality Maxims Quantity Maxims Relevance Maxim Manner Maxims

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1. Which maxim is being flouted in the conversations?

2. Are the implicatures successfully inferred in both conversations?


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Task 2

Recover the implicatures suggested by the B’s utterances and identify which maxims are flouted.

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What is an implicature?

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What is the difference

between an implicature

and an entailment?

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How is an implicature worked out?

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What are the maxims of the cooperative principle?

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What are the types of implicature?

Types of Conversational Implicatures

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Conversational

implicatures

Particularized CI

Generalized CI

Particularized Conversational Implicature

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Particularized conversational

implicatures are the inferences which are

worked out while drawing totally on the specific context of the

utterance.

Leila: Wow! Has your boss gone crazy? Mary: Let go get some coffee• Leila has walked into Mary’s

office and noticed all the work is on her desk. She has addressed Mary without realizing that the Boss is in some corner in the office.

A: I’ m going to the prison tomorrow.B: Will 200Dhs do?

• A is visiting a detainee and proposing to B to help in funding the shopping for that detainee.

Generalized Implicature

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While working out generalized CI “no special background knowledge of the context of utterance

is required in order to make the necessary

inferences”. Yule

(1996:40)

A: Did you invite Bella and Cathy?

B: I invited Bella.+>………………………

A: Did you buy bread and cheese.

B: I bought bread.+>…………………………

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Generalized Conversational Implicatures

I was sitting in a garden one day. A child looked over the fence.

+>…………………………

An X +> not speaker’s X

There is a car in front of the house.+>………………………..

Phrases with indefinites ‘a’/’an’

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Scalar Implicatures Scalar implicatures are given rise by the use of certain scales of value. The use of one expression indicates one point on the scale and cancels the other expressions indicating higher points on the scale.

<All, most, some, few><always, often, sometimes><certain, probable, possible><do badly, progress, do well>

Some of the boys went to the party.+>not all of the boys went to the party.

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Scalar Implicature

The courses are sometimes interesting.+> the courses are not always/ not often interesting.

It’s possible that they were delayed.+> It’s not certain/ not probable that they were delayed.

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Scalar Implicature

I can’t lend you 10$.+> I can’t lend you more 10$.

Types of Implicatures

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Implicatures

Conversational

Particularized

Generalized

Indefinite

ScalarConventional

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Conventional Implicatures

Conventional implicatures are associated with specific words and result in additional conveyed meanings when those words are used.

She put on her clothes, and left the house.

p q

+> After she had put on her clothes, she left the house.

+> q after p

She was happy and ready to work.

p q

+> she was both happy and ready to work.

+> p plus q

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John is poor but happy. p q

+> In contrast to what John should feel as a poor person, he is happy.

P but q +> p is in contrast to q

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Denis isn’t here yet. not p

+> Denis is expected to be here later.

Not p yet +> p is expected to be true later.

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Even Mary came to the party.

p

+> contrary to what was expected, Mary came to the party.

Even p +> contrary to what is expected, p.

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Task 3

Recover the implicatures that these utterances may give rise to and identify their types. Sometimes, one utterance may suggest implicatures of different types

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Question 3

In what lesson components can our knowledge about implicature be relevant and useful?

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Implications for Foreign Language Teaching Bouton (1994) found out that non-native students had performed

significantly poorer in interpreting conversational implicatures than native ones.

Boersma (1994) showed that non-native students could interpret conversational implicatures after an explicit formal teaching on how inferences can be drawn from utterances.

Lee (2000) pointed out that high linguistic proficiency would allow students to derive the same interpretations as native speakers, though they might display a slower pace at working out implicatures.

A number of studies (Alcon, 2005; House, 1996; Rose& Ng Kwai-fun, 2001; Tateyama, 2001) provide evidence for the benefit of both implicit and explicit teaching of pragmatic aspects of language in foreign language contexts.

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Implications for Foreign Language Teaching

Designing the instructional materials

Teaching

Testing

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Designing the Instructional Material

Rich pragmatic content

Examples of different types of implicatures

Media clips from TV shows

and movies

Comic strips

Culturally rich material

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Comic Strips

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Teaching

Implicit instruction

Using questions to elicit inferences

Matching exercises (utterances and appropriate inferences)

Multiple choice questions on the implicatures contained in reading and listening texts

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Teaching Functions

Off-record Requests:.

•indirect requests that eliminate the potential for the speaker to impose on the addressee by allowing the addressee to draw an implicature from the statement It's hot in here. (Open the window.) My car is in the shop. (Give me a ride.) I really dislike chicken. (Serve a different meat

instead.) You look nice in blue. (Wear blue more often.) Washing your hands before eating is recommended.

(Wash your hands before eating.) All reports are due tomorrow. (Finish your report by

tomorrow.)

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Testing

Teachers need to consult a checklist when designing tests targeting the students’ pragmatic ability to interpret implicatures.

Do the question items require the use of inference skills that were already taught?

Are the targeted implicatures well-contextualized?

Is there any grading of questions in terms of the difficulty level?

Do the targeted implicatures have one answer or multiple answers?

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References• Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where

language and culture meet. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.

• Griffiths, P. (2006). An introduction to English semantics and pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Alcon.

• Grundy, P. (1995). Doing pragmatics. London: E. Arnold.

• S. E., & Martinez, F. A. (2008). Investigating pragmatics in foreign language learning, teaching and testing. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

• Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• http://userwww.sfsu.edu/kbach/Bach.Grice.pdf• http://philpapers.org/rec/HORI• http://wiim.wiwi.tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/fakultaeten/philosophische

fakultaet/iph/thph/braeuer/lehre/implikaturen/Bach%20TopTen%20Misconceptions.pdf

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Flouting the ambiguity maxims puns jokes

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The Maxims of Conversation

In a conversation, the speaker may take one of these options:

S/He may observe the maxims. (This is the default assumption)

S/He may flout a maxim, to the full knowledge of the addressee. (This gives rise to conversational implicatures)

S/He may violate a maxim, e.g., lie.

Quality Quantity Relevance Manner

Implicature

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Transcript of Implicature