UNIT 11: CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE

Entry test: Of the following pairs of sentences, say whether the one in column A entails the one in
column B.
A B
(1) John is a bachelor John is a man
(2) Eliza plays the fiddle Someone plays a musical instrument
(3) I’ve done my homework. I haven’t brushed my teeth
(4) Some of the students came to my party Not all of the students came to my party
(5) Mary owns three canaries Mary owns a canary
(6) John picked a tulip John didn’t pick a rose

Definition 1: If, when a proposition A is TRUE, a proposition B must therefore also be TRUE, then
proposition A ENTAILS proposition B.

The Co-operative Principle can be stated simply as ‘be as helpful to your hearer as you can’. The fact that
speakers are assumed to follow this principle is used by hearers in making inferences from the
utterances they hear, as we shall now see in detail.

Practice: In the following dialogues, say whether the second speaker is making an utterance that is fully
co-operative (C) or one that is misleading (M) or unhelpful in some way (U).
(1) Policeman at the front door: ‘Is your father or your mother at home?’
Small boy (who knows that his father is at home): ‘Either my mother’s gone out shopping or she hasn’t’
(2) Traffic warden to motorist parked on double yellow line: ‘Is this your car, sir?’
Motorist (looking at the black clouds): ‘I think it’s going to rain’
(3) Customer in stationery shop: ‘Could you tell me where I could buy some felt-tip pens?’
Shop girl (who knows she has felt-tip pens in stock): ‘Yes, you could get some at Woolworths, down the
road’
(4) Mother: ‘Now tell me the truth. Who put the ferret in the bathtub?’
(who knows who did it): ‘Someone put it there’

Practice: Now in each of the above situations, say whether the second speaker, although clearly being
unhelpful, is telling the truth or not.
(1) Yes / No
(2) Yes / No
(3) Yes / No
(4) Yes / No

Further components of conversational cooperativeness.

(1) Relevance – keep to the topic of the conversation.
(2) Informativeness – tell the hearer just what he needs to know, no more and no less.
(3) Clarity – speak in a way that the hearer will understand.

These principles are called maxims. We shall refer to them as the maxim of relevance, the maxim of
informativeness, and the maxim of clarity.
Practice: Go back over the situations in questions (1)–(4) above and say whether the utterance of the
second speaker in each case is irrelevant (I), less informative than it might have been (LI) or unclear, i.e.
difficult for the hearer to understand (U).
(1) U / LI / I
(2) U / LI / I
(3) U / LI / I
(4) U / LI / I

Practice: Give an implicature of B’s utterance in each of the situations below.

(1) A: ‘Do you love me?’
B: ‘I’m quite fond of you’
(2) A: ‘Was there a fiddler at the bar last night?’
B: ‘There was a man scraping a bow across a violin’
(3) A: ‘Do you like my new carpet?’
B: ‘The wallpaper’s not bad’

Practice: Below are some conversations between two people, A and B. After each conversation an
implicature from B’s utterance is given. In each case, say whether the crucial assumption leading the
hearer to this implicature involves the maxim of (R) relevance, (I) informativeness, or (C) clarity (or
brevity). Circle your answer.
(1) A: (by an obviously immobilized car) ‘My car’s broken down’
B: ‘There is a garage round the corner’
Implicature: The garage is open and has a mechanic who might repair the fault.
(2) A: ‘What subjects is Jack taking?’
B: ‘He’s not taking Linguistics’
Implicature: B does not know exactly which subjects Jack is taking.
(3) A: ‘Have you brushed your teeth and tidied your room?’
B: ‘I’ve brushed my teeth’
Implicature: B has not tidied his room.
(4) A: ‘Who was that man you were talking to?’
B: ‘That was my mother’s husband’
Implicature: B’s mother’s husband is not B’s father.
(5) A: ‘Is Betsy in?’
B: ‘Her light is on’
Implicature: Betsy’s light being on is usually a sign of whether she is in or not.

Practice: In the situations below, fill in an appropriate utterance for B, so that what he says implicates
(but does not entail) the conclusion in the right-hand column. In other words, if you were B, what might
you say in order to convey the given conclusion to A, without stating it directly?
(1) A: ‘Let’s try the new Arab restaurant round the corner’
B: ..................................................................................................................
Implicature: Arab restaurants are likely not to serve vegetarian food.
(2) A: ‘Meet me at Piccadilly Circus at midnight’
B: ..............................................................................................................
Implicatur: Picadilly Circus is not a safe place to meet at midnight.
(3) A: ‘Do you use your local swimming pool very much?’
B: ..................................................................................................................
Implicature: B’s local swimming pool has salt water.
(4) A: ‘How much do I owe you now?’
B: ..................................................................................................................
Implicature: A’s debts to B are large and complicated to work out.