Conversational Implicatures

1. Conversational Implicatures

2. What is Pragmatics? • Semantics vs Pragmatics • Semantics = the study of meaning, esp. denotation (wikipedia). • Pragmatics = the study of meaning, esp. denotation and beyond (connotation)

3. Issues in Pragmatics • Reference and Deixis • Speech Act • Implicatures • Politeness • Presupposition • Conversation Analysis

4. Implicatures • Proposed by Paul H. Grice •  (i) the act of meaning, implying, or suggesting one thing by saying something else, or (ii) the object of that act. (Stanford, 2010) • What is said vs What is implicated • What is said can be contradicted, agreed or disagreed with, whereas what is implicated cannot (Cruse, 2011)

5. Implicatures • A: Has John cleared the table and washed the dishes? • B: He has cleared the table. • i. That’s not true. • ii. ? That’s not true, he has washed the dishes. • iii. You’re right. • iv. ? You’re right, he has washed the dishes • What is implicated is “he has not washed the dishes” • B has said that John has cleared the table and implicated that he has not washed the dishes.

6. Implicatures • Another example • Shut that flaming door! • ?You have every right to be. • ?No, you’re not – you’re only pretending. • Anger is not said but implicated. (Cruse, 2011)

7. Cooperative Principle • Make your 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 are engaged. • Comprised of 4 maxims

8. Maxim of Quality • Do not say what you believe to be false. • Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

9. Maxim of Quantity • Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current pruposes of the exchange in which you are engaged. • Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. • Ex. A: What did you have for lunch today? • Sandwich • ?Food • ?I had seven pieces of sandwiches, three of which was slight burnt.

10. Maxim of Relation • Be relevant • A: Have you seen Mary today? • B: ?I’m breathing. • Make the strongest statement that can be relevantly made, justifiable by your evidence (Levinson, 1983) • John captured a wild cat >> Somebody caught an animal.

11. Maxim of Manner • Avoid obscurity. • Avoid ambiguity. • Avoid unnecessary prolixity (lengthy, wordy). • Be orderly. • ? The lone ranger rode off into the sunset and jumped on his horse.

12. Nature of CP • Theoretical Definition:S conversationally implicates piffS implicates p when: • (i) S is presumed to be observing the Cooperative Principle (cooperative presumption); • (ii) The supposition that S believes p is required to make S's utterance consistent with the Cooperative Principle (determinacy); and • (iii) S believes (or knows), and expects H to believe that S believes, that H is able to determine that (ii) is true (mutual knowledge).

13. Flouting Maxims • Flouting = Speaker (S) intentionally violates the maxims, knowing that the hearer (H) is well aware of his/her intention. • I married a rat. • Metaphoric expression • It must be somewhere. • Further search is needed. • A: Did you hear about Mary’s B: Yes, well, it rained the whole time (Mary is approaching)

14. Flouting Maxims • A: I’ll look after Sam for you. Don’t worry. B: Oh, don’t offer her any post-prandial concoctions involving super-cooled oxide of hydrogen.

15. Conventional vs Conversational • Conversational Implicatures • 1. Generalised conversational Implicatures (GCI) • 2.Particularised conversational Implicatures (PCI)

16. (Meibauer, 2009)

17. Distinction • A: What time is it? B: Some of the guests are already leaving PCI: It must be late. GCI: Not all of the guests are already leaving. • A: Where’s John? B: Some of the guests are already leaving. PCI: Perhaps John has already left. GCI: Not all of the guests are already leaving.

18. Generalised Conversational Implicatures • Levinson(200) divides DCI into 3 types • Q-Implicatures • I-Implicatures • M-Implicatures

19. Q-Implicatures • What you do not say is not the case • Choosing a weaker member of a set implicates that the stronger members do not apply • He owns 3 cars. • Imp: He does not own 4 or 5 cars. • It made her ill. • Imp: She did not die. • The gunman’s target was the PM. • Imp: The gunman did not hit the PM.

20. I-Implicatures • Enrichments of what is said. • What is simply expressed is stereotypically exemplified. • We went to that new restaurant yesterday. • Imp: I had a meal. • John is going out with a nurse. • Imp: The nurse is female.

21. M-Implicatures • Marked expressions call for marked interpretations. • There is a good reason to speak unconventionally. • Bill caused the car to stop • Normal: Bill stopped the car. • Imp: Bill did not stop the car in the normal way • The corner of Sue’s lips turned slightly upwards • Normal : Sue Smile. • Imp: Sue’s expression is not a smile.

22. Cooperation and Translation • cooperative principle is formulated for instances in which interactants are interested in 'a maximally effective exchange of information' (Grice, 1975: 47). We cannot assume that a writer's primary purpose in writing a literary text is the effective exchange of information nor, even, that the writer necessarily intends the reader to grasp his or her intentions (Hickey, 1998).

23. Cooperation and Translation • the writer at least would like the reader to grasp the basic, literal meaning of his or her written utterance and that the reader shares this desire; as long as this is all that is meant by the effective exchange of information.

24. Translator’s Role • Render exactly what S says and implicates • Facilitate the communication between S and H • Textual equivalence vs Maximal cooperation

25. Examples • น ส ยิ่งลักษณ์ ชินวัตร นายกรัฐมนตรี กล่าวสุนทรพจน์ในพิธีเปิดการประชุมWorld Economic Forum on East Asia ปี 2555 • Ms.YingluckShinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand, gave the opening speech at ……. (The context is not clear whether it is known that Ms.Yingluck is from Thailand.)  observe Maxim of Quantity

26. Examples • His rose-white boyhood • วัยหนุ่มกุหลาบขาว • วัยหนุ่มสีขาวเหมือนกุหลาบ • วัยหนุ่มบริสุทธิ์ดังกุหลาบขาว • วัยหนุ่มที่แสนบริสุทธิ์

27. Examples • การจัดกระบวนการการสื่อสารและแลกเปลี่ยนเรียนรู้กับกลุ่มต่างๆ ในชุมชน ทั้ง 7 หมู่บ้าน ประกอบด้วย กลุ่มผู้นำชุมชน (ได้แก่ กำนัน ผู้ใหญ่บ้าน กรรมการหมู่บ้าน สมาชิกสภาเทศบาล) กลุ่มแกนนำชุมชน (ได้แก่ แม่บ้าน อสม. ผู้สูงอายุ เกษตรตำบล เยาวชน) เครือข่ายพระสงฆ์ ครู ประชาชนในชุมชน • Communication and learning exchange process between different groups from the seven villages i.e. local administrative officers ( the sub-district headman, the village headmen, the village committee members, the municipality members), community leaders (housewives, volunteers, elders, agricultural officers, youths), monks, teachers and other inhabitants

28. References • Cruse, D.A. (2011). Meaning in Language. • Fawcett, Peter (2003). Translation and Language. • Hickey, L. (1998). The Pragmatics of Translation Topics. • Levinson, S.C. (1983). Pragmatics. • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2010). Implicatures.