Flouting and implicature

Flouting and implicature

1. An implicature is a meaning that is conveyed but not explicitly stated.

   • -When will you be back? -I should be back by eight but you know what trains are like.

2. Grice´s theory of conversational implicature.

   • How is it that we understand?
     • Grice noted that although much of our speech is non-literal, we have a remarkable ability to accurately grasp what our conversational partners mean, even when the meaning the speaker is tryng to convey and linguistic meaning are quite different.

3. Grice thought that the appropiate understanding of non-literal speech was the outcome of what he called a "cooperative principle" and maxims (rules) of discourse.

   • COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE: "Make your considerational contribution such as is required, at the stage at wich it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in wich you are engaged"
   • MAXIMS
   • RULES
   • DISCOURSE

4. NATURAL AND NON NATURAL MEANINGS

   • Grice argued the speakers intend to be cooperative when they talk. One way of being cooperative is for a speaker to give as much information as is expected.
   • NON NATURAL
     • This is the kind of meaning something has when it is a conventional sign for something.
   • NATURAL
     • This is the kind of meaning something has when it is a non-conventional sign for something.

5. Grice´s Maxims

   • QUANTITY
     • Make your contribution as informative as required.
   • RELEVANCE
     • Be relevant.
   • QUALITY
     • Try to make your contribution one that is true.
   • MANNER
     • Be perspicuous. Avoid ambiguity, be brief, be orderly.