Conversational Implicature

David Sanson

2026-10-12

Preliminary

Agenda

1. Preliminary
2. The Phenomena
3. The Theory

Reminders

• If you got a C or lower on the first writing assignment, you can improve it to a B by meeting with me and showing that you (now) understand how Frege and Russell would respond to the case you wrote about.

The Phenomena

Agenda

1. Preliminary
2. The Phenomena
3. The Theory

‘And’ and ‘\(\wedge\)’

In logic, we introduce a sentential operator, ‘\(\wedge\)’, say that it means ‘and’, and assign it the following truth table:

\(p\)	\(q\)	\(p \wedge q\)
T	T	T
T	F	F
F	T	F
F	F	F

This implies that ‘\(p \wedge q\)’ and ‘\(q \wedge p\)’ mean the same thing.

• He took off his trousers and got into bed.
• He got into bed and took off his trousers.

Conversational implicature

When you say one thing, but communicate something else (or something more).

Sally: “What’s the weather going to be like today?” Harold: “You should bring your umbrella.”

What does Harold say? What does he communicate?

A: “How is Charles getting on in his new job?” B: “Quite well, I think: he likes his colleagues, and he hasn’t been to prison yet.”

What does B say? What does B communicate?

A basic observation about how we use language: we often communicate more than what we say.

Call these additional things that we communicate conversational implicatures.

The Theory

Agenda

1. Preliminary
2. The Phenomena
3. The Theory

Cooperation

Conversation is a cooperative venture, aimed at communication. Conversational implicatures are generated by apparent violations of the cooperative norms that govern conversation.

Cooperation

The Cooperative Principle

Make your conversational contribution such as required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

The Four Maxims

Quality

Try to make your contribution one that is true: (1) do not say what you believe to be false; (2) do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Quantity

(1) Make your contribution as informative as is required; (2) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Relation

Be relevant.

Manner

Be perspicuous: (1) avoid obscurity of expression; (2) avoid ambiguity; (3) be brief; (4) be orderly.

The Four Maxims

Sally: “What’s the weather going to be like today?” Harold: “You should bring your umbrella.”

Which maxim(s) does Harold appear to violate?

The Four Maxims

A: “How is Charles getting on in his new job?” B: “Quite well, I think: he likes his colleagues, and he hasn’t been to prison yet.”

Which maxim(s) does B appear to violate?

 

Someone who says \(p\) implicates \(q\) if:

1. It is appropriate to assume that she is observing the conversational maxims and the Cooperative Principle.
2. Her saying \(p\) is consistent with the maxims and the principle only if we suppose that she also believes \(q\).
3. The speaker thinks (and thinks the hearer thinks that the speaker thinks) that the hearer can work out that \(q\) is what is required to make \(p\) relevant.

Examples

1. I have $9.
2. Which city does Jan live in? She lives in Spain.
3. The movie we saw last night was good.
4. Three students showed up to class.
5. The final is either on Monday or Wednesday.
6. He had perfect attendance and beautiful handwriting.
7. The stew was decent.
8. “Do you like me dear?” “You are the most lovely person I know.”
9. He got into bed and took off his trousers.

calculate the implicatures use the maxims.

Calculability

Conversational implicatures can be calculated on the basis of what is said and the maxims.

That is what we just did!

Nondetachability

If saying S in context C gives rise to implicature I, and T is another way of saying the same thing as S, then saying T in context C would also give rise to implicature I.

Except for implicatures that rely on the maxim of manner!

This implies that the implicature is a function of what is said, not something else.

Go back to the slide of examples, and think about other ways of saying the same thing. Notice whether or not the implicature still holds.

Cancelability

Conversational implicatures can be cancelled.

Return to the examples slide, and think about how to cancel the implicature.

Indeterminacy

Conversational implicatures are often indeterminate, since there might be various possible things someone might mean by what they say in the conversational context.

Conventional Implicatures

Over time, certain conversational implicatures may become conventional, and perhaps even become part of the meaning of what is said.