Gricean Implicature

Grice: Logic and Conversation

Grice's theory of meaning involves three key points:

1. The creation of a semantic/pragmatic divide (pragmatics was never really a distinct subject before)

2. A systematic way of testing for and computing implicature

3. Accounting for Strawson-esque problems, while saving logic

• Strawson argues that ordinary language cannot be treated in terms of language. But Grice argues that logic only screws up pragmatics, not semantics.

• Grice argues that there is a difference between what is said and what is implicated.

• This difference roughly is the difference between what is meant conventionally; what is encoded into the meanings of words and how they are put together, and information conveyed beyond what is said, for example temporal implication.

• Grice suggests that implications are generated by a set of maxims of conversation.

Conversational Implicature

• Conversational maxims explain how a speaker can say one thing and mean another.
• 'The speaker has said that P, there is no reason to suppose he  is flouting the maxims, he could not be doing this unless he believes that q, and knows (and knows that I know) that I an see the supposition that he thinks q is required; thus, he intends me to think, and has implied, q'.
• eg. I uttter 'there's the door' - hearer reasons as follows: 'The door has nothing to do with anything I currently have in mind; so by the maxim of relevance, the door must be relevant to something the speaker has in mind...'
• However, flouting maxims can aso generate implicature - eg. by stating 'Ms X produced a series of sounds' 

Some implications:

• You can have soup or…