Conversational Implicatures Einf uhrung in Pragmatik Lecture Plan: - PDF document

E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 1 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Conversational Implicatures Einf¨ uhrung in Pragmatik Lecture Plan: und Diskurs • What is said vs. what is implicated Implicatures • Cooperative principle and conversational maxims Ivana Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a • Conversational implicatures arising from observing korbay@coli.uni-sb.de or floating the maxims http://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/courses/pd/ Summer Semester 2005 Basic reading: • Levinson 1983, Chapter 3 • Davis 1991, Chapter 5 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 2 3 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Grice’s Theory of Meaning (1) Advertisement for tea: poster with text It’s the taste. (Grice 1957) Wegen dem Geschmack. Communication is a complex kind of intention that (2) A: Why didn’t you eat your lunch? is achieved or satisfied just by being recognized. B: It’s the taste. A: Warum isst du dein Mittagsessen nicht? • S has a communicative intention , i.e. an intention B: Wegen dem Geschmack. to cause some e ff ect Z in H (e.g., that H thinks/believes/does something) • communication is successful i ff H recognizes this communicative intention, i.e., if it becomes mutual knowledge between S and H . ⇒ not all inferences that can be drawn from what is said and all the knowledge of the world that a participant has, are part of its meaning. Only those intended by the speaker are. This is because communication involves intention and agency . I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05

E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 4 5 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Communicative Intention Communicative Content S meant Z by uttering U i ff S intended: Broad understanding of meaning includes: (i) U to cause some e ff ect Z in H. • natural meaning (also: literal meaning, sentence (ii) (i) to be achieved simply by H recognizing that meaning, conventional content, what is said) intention. • non-natural meaning (also: meaning-nn, speaker S=Speaker, H=Hearer, U=Utterance, Z=some meaning, ironic, metaphoric and implicit or belief or volition invoked in H indirect communicative content) Grice also explains discrepancies between sentence • How does H recognize S ’s comm. intention? meaning and speaker meaning, e.g. Linguistics is fascinating. can mean Linguistics is deadly boring. – Not only by knowledge of some convention, The inferences that are intended by the speaker because U means Z by fact that S wants U are called implicatures by Grice. Grice distinguishes to mean Z – By taking into account not only meaning of • conventional implicatures U but also the mechanisms which may cause • conversational implicatures a divergence between (literal) meaning of U and what is communicated by U in a particular context. I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 6 7 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Grice’s theory of conversational The Cooperative Principle implicatures • Lecture 1967; Publications 1975, 1978 Make your contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose • Theory about how people use language. or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. • Basic claim: there is a set of guidelines for Das Kooperationsprinzip Gestalte deinen Beitrag e ff ective and rational use of language zur Konversation so, wie es die gegenw¨ artig akzeptierte Zweckbestimmung und Ausrichtung des • Guidelines = Gespr¨ achs, an dem du teilnimmst, erfordert. A general cooperative principle + Four maxims of conversation . I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05

E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 8 9 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I The Cooperative Principle Kooperationsprinzip Conversational Maxims Konversationsmaxime Conversational maxims are postulates that further Richtlinien f¨ ur den e ffi zienten und wirkungsvollen define the cooperative principle: Sprachgebrauch, als Grundlage jeden Gespr¨ achs. 1. Qualit¨ atsmaxime: Versuche, deinen Beitrag 1. Quality: Try to make your contribution one that wahr zu gestalten, genauer: is true, specifically: (i) Sage nichts, was du f¨ ur falsch h¨ alst. (i) do not say what you believe to be false (ii) Sage nichts, wof¨ ur du keinen Beweis hast. (ii) do not say that for which you lack evidence 2. Quantit¨ atsmaxime: 2. Quantity: (i) Gestalte deinen Beitrag so informativ wie (i) Make your contribution as informative as is f¨ ur die gegenw¨ artige Zweckbestimmung des required for the current purposes of the exchange Gespr¨ achs n¨ otig. (ii) Do not make your contribution more (ii) Gestalte deinen Beitrag nicht mehr informativ informative than is required. als n¨ otig. 3. Relevance: Make your contribution relevant 3. Relationsmaxime: Mache deine Beitr¨ age 4. Manner: Be perspicuous, specifically: relevant. (i) avoid obscurity 4. Maxime der Art und Weise: Sei klar, genauer: (ii) avoid ambiguity (i) Vermeide Obskurit¨ at (Unklarheit) (iii) be brief (avoid prolixity) (ii) Vermeide Ambiguit¨ at (Mehrdeutigkeit) (iv) be orderly (iii) Fasse dich kurz (vermeide Prolixit¨ at) (iv) Sei methodisch (ordentlich) I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 10 11 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Conversational Implicatures Conversational Implicatures The Maxims generate inferences beyond the semantic (3) A: Where’s Bill? content of utterances, which are made on the B: There’s a yellow VW outside Sue’s basis of utterance content and assumptions about house. cooperative nature of conversation. (4) A: Wo ist Willi? Conversational implicatures (CIs) are inferences that B: Vor Susannes Haus steht ein gelber are derived from (or: rely on) VW. (5) A: Wo ist Willi? i. adherence to the maxims = standard CIs B: Willi ist bei Susanne. (Beobachtung von Maxime) B’: Willi ist nicht bei Susanne. ii. flouting or exploiting the maxims (Mißachtung von Maxime) Conversational implicatures arise • only in specific contexts = particularized CIs • without any particular context or scenario being necessary = generalized CIs I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05

E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 12 13 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Full Cooperation All the Time? (6) A: Where’s Bill? B: There’s a yellow VW outside Sue’s house. (7) A: Wo ist Willi? Examples of B: Vor Susannes Haus steht ein gelber conversational implicatures VW. arising from • An utterance may apparently violate maxims observing or floating the maxims • But Hearer (H) assumes Speaker (S) is being cooperative at some deeper level . • H interprets what’s said as conforming in some way (i.e. through the inferences called implicatures) to the maxims. I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 E R S E R S V I V I I T I T N N A A U S U S 14 15 S S S S A I A I S S R R N N A E A E V I V I Generation of implicatures from Generation of implicatures from the Maxims the Maxims • If maxims can be assumed by H to be observed • If S flouts the maxims in an obvious and by S but S relies on H to amplify what’s said deliberate way , H still assumes cooperation by inference, the inferences drawn are called and draws the inferences needed to explain this standard CIs . violation. These are non-standard CIs . Many traditional figures of speech e.g. metaphor, irony, (8) A: I am out of petrol. rhetorical questions arise in this way. B: There’s a garage just around the corner. (10) A: Let’s get the kids something. SCI: A may obtain petrol at the garage just B: Ok, but I veto I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. around the corner. (11) A: Lassen uns was f¨ ur die Kinder kaufen. (9) A: (zu einem Passanten): Mir ist gerade B: Ja, aber keine E.I.S. das Benzin ausgegangen. Spelling words violates the maxim of Manner. B: Oh, da vorne um die Ecke ist eine NSCI: B does not want ice-creams mentioned Garage. directly in front of the children. SCI: A may obtain petrol at the garage just around the corner. I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05 I.Kruij ff -Korbayov´ a Implicatures P&D:SS05