COURSES PRAGMATICS Grice Si Handout [PDF]

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Pragmatics

Conversational Implicature 1975: Paul Grice in " Logic & Conversation" He distinguishes between Conventional Implicature and Conversational implicature NB: there is a difference between implicature and inference: Implicature is to hint at smth Inference is to deduce smth. Implicature shows how the hearer gets from what is said to what is meant. "To imply is to hint, suggest or convey some meaning indirectly" (Thomas, 1995:58). 1. Conventional implicature: conveys extra meaning regardless of the context, i.e. Same meaning in different contexts. It is carried by few words such as: but, yet, even, therefore. E.g.:"He is Italian, therefore he is a romantic." 2. Conversational implicature: different meanings in different contexts. Conversational implicature invites the hearer to look for the implicature/ hint. E.g.

" Is that scotch over there?" " Help yourself." Therefore, the question is not asking for a Yes/ No answer. Instead, it is asking for a drink. E.g. Mother:(seeing that the electric toothbrush won't work): Funny! I thought I put some new batteries. Son: The ones in my engine still work. Therefore: Mother is irritated- Her irritation is wrongly taken for accusation- Son denies guilt- by denying guilt Son is providing evidence and thus admits he is guilty. 3. Cooperative Principle: this concept was formulated by Grice in order to explain the way people get from the level of expressed meaning to that of implied meaning. In other words, people tend to observe certain regularities and thus they search for implicatures. E.g. B has locked herself out and is shivering in the middle of the night in her camisole. A: Do you want a coat? B: No, I want to stand out here and freeze stiff. Although B' reply sound untrue and uncooperative, A infers that B must be observing the Cooperative Principle and thus searches for the implicature. B' s sarcasm is , in fact, a cry for help. Observing the Cooperative Principle you are a good Samaritan: If smb needs smth, give it to him.

If smb is doing smth, help out. Anticipate people's needs. E.g. A: Do you have any idea if there is a spare red pencil in the bookshop round the corner? B: I can lend you mine for a couple of minutes. 4. The type of implicatures should be observed can be established in terms of the 4. Conversation Maxims, as follows: The Maxim of Quantity: make your contribution as informative as it is required. No more, no less informative. The Maxim of Quality: do not say what you believe is false or for which you lack any evidence. The Maxim of Relation: be relevant! The Maxim of Manner: avoid obscurity, avoid ambiguity; be brief and orderly. By observing those maxims, you say what you mean, there is no implied meaning. E.g. " Where do you live?" " In that house with the red roof." In fact, we fail to observe those maxims by flouting/ violating/ infringing/ opting out maxims. Thus we instigate the Hearer to search for an implicature.

CONCLUSIONS  Conversational implicature conveys additional level of meaning- the implied meaning.  Flouting a maxim - not with intention to deceive- has as purpose the speaker' s intention to make the hearer look for a hint (additional meaning).  Not observing a maxim generates an implicature and instigates the hearer to look for the real meaning of the utterance. 1. Flouting the Maxim of Quality E.g. B was on a long train journey and wanted to read her book. A was a fellow passenger who wanted to talk to her: A: What do you do? B: I am a teacher. A: where do you teach? B: Outer Mongolia. A: Sorry I asked. By saying " Outer Mongolia"- which is seen as somewhere extremely remote and improbable- B' s reply invited the hearer to look for an implicature: his attentions were completely unwelcome. 2. Flouting the Maxim of Quality E.g. A: How are we getting to Steve' s party? B: well, We're getting there in Dave's car. B gives less information making A look for an implicature: while A and his friends have a lift arranged, A is supposed to manage by

himself.  Flouting the Maxim of Relation E.g. Wife to her husband: Have you walked the dog? Husband: Wine anyone? Husband' s reply makes his wife understand that he has completely forgotten about the dog.  Flouting the Maxim of Manner E.g. On her 40th anniversary, the Queen delivered a speech. It had been a hard year for her. Queen: 1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.  Violating a conversational maxim Grice (1975) defines ' violation' as the unostentatious non observance of a maxim. The purpose is to mislead the hearer. It is the opposite of flouting a maxim . Instead of wanting the hearer to search for extra meaning, it discourages the hearer from looking for implicatures and encourages his taking utterances at face value. E.g. Teacher: Did you read Shakespeare' s sonnets for today? Student: Weren't they captivating? Eg.

Alice has been refusing to make love to her husband. At first he attributes this to post-natal depression, but then he starts to think she may be having an affair. Allie, I have to ask you smth. Ask me then… Is there another man? No, she said. There is no other man. And then Martin gave a long, escaping sigh, and grinned at her and said he thought they had better finish the champagne, didn’t she? It is later established that Alice’s assertion that she is not having an affair with another man is true, but not the whole truth (she is, in fact, having an affair with a woman). But there is nothing in the formulation which would allow Martin to deduce that she was withholding information. This unostentatious violation of the Maxim of Quantity generates the intentionally misleading implicature that Alice is not having an affair with anyone.  Infringing a maxim This non-observance occurs because the speaker has an imperfect command of lg, the speaker' s performance is impaired ( because of nervousness, drunkness, excitement), because of some cognitive impairment or because the speaker is biologically incapable of speaking clearly.  Opting out a maxim It indicates unwillingness to cooperate: because of legal or ethical reasons. Examples : a priest, counsellor or journalist refusing to relay information given in confidence or a police officer refusing to release the name of an accident victim until the victim' s relatives

have been informed. Implicatures are context dependent E.g. In each of the instances below the question "How old are you" carries different meanings. a). A: It' s my birthday today. B:Happy birthday? How old are you? A: I am five. b) A is talking to his son. A: How old are you, George? B: I am twenty, Dad. A: I know how old you are, you fool. c) A psychiatrist is talking to a woman patient. A: What is your job? B: I am a nurse, but my husband won' t let me work. A: How old are you? B: I am 39. In each case the semantic meaning of " How old are you?" Is the same. The implicature is different, though. In a) it is a direct question requesting an information. In b) the father is implying that his son' s behaviour is inappropriate for a person of that age.

In c) the psychiatrist is implying that his patient is old enough to make her own decisions.  Defeasibility An implicature can be cancelled. This allows the speaker to imply smth and then, immediately, deny the implicature. Eg. A: Let’s have a drink. B: It’s not one o’clock yet. An hour or so later. A: Let’s have a gin and tonic-it’s after one o’clock. B: I didn’t say that you could drink after one o’clock. I said that you couldn’t drink before. At first, A may have implied that B could have a drink after one o’clock. In the second conversation, A cancels that implicature. Similarly: E.g. A: Did you get your velvet jacket back from the cleaner? B; You are not borrowing it. A: I don’t want to borrow it. I just wondered. B: You just wondered!!! A; Well, I haven’t anything decent to wear! Eg.

A letter to a newspaper shortly before Mrs Thatcher resigned as PM in November, 1990. For the sake of the country the PM should hold on until the summer. This is no time for street parties. The writer deliberately generated a false implicature that he regrets the Mrs Thatcher resigns, which her second sentence immediatelycancels.