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Pragmatics 2

Pragmatics 2. Ling400. Entailment vs. Implicature. John and Mary are students. == entails ==> John is a student. I have a car. == implicates ==> I have exactly one car. Entailments cannot be canceled; Implicatures can be. Grice’s idea.

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Pragmatics 2

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  1. Pragmatics 2 Ling400

  2. Entailment vs. Implicature John and Mary are students. == entails ==> John is a student. I have a car. == implicates ==> I have exactly one car. Entailments cannot be canceled; Implicatures can be.

  3. Grice’s idea • People normally follow “rules of conversation” when they talk, and they expect others to do the same. • Some inferences can be made on this assumption. • But such rules are not absolute and can be interpreted in different ways in different contexts unlike entailments.

  4. Maxim of Quantity • Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as required. • Do not make your contribution any more informative than necessary. • This means that you should provide the right amount of information.

  5. Conversational maxims (Grice) • Quantity: Say neither more nor less than the discourse requires • Relevance/Relation: Be relevant. • Manner: Be brief and orderly; avoid ambiguity and obscurity. • Quality: Do not lie or make unsupported claims.

  6. Maxim of Relation/Relevance • Maxim of Relevance • _ Be relevant. • _ Is Jamie dating anyone these days? • _ Well, she goes to Cleveland every weekend.

  7. Temporal Sequence • Annie took off her socks. She jumped into bed. • Annie jumped into bed. She took off her socks. The order of the sentences is normally taken to be the order of the associated events. It’s an implicature since (3) is acceptable. (3) Annie took off her socks and jumped into bed, but I do not know which she did first. We can appeal to Maxim of Manner.

  8. Maxim of Quantity • Maxim of Quantity A: Have you finished your homework for all your classes? B: I’ve finished my biology homework. Implicature: I have not finished my homework for all my classes.

  9. Moore’s Paradox • The cat is on the mat, but I do not believe it. (1) sounds contradictory, but why? This is because we are assumed to speak the truth. The first conjunct is understood to mean “I believe that the cat is on the mat”. The second sentence then contradicts this implicit belief. We can appeal to Maxim of Quality.

  10. Flouting the Maxims Recommendation Letter: I am writing to recommend Joe Blow for graduate study. He was my advisee, and I have always found him unfailingly polite and punctual. Also, he dresses extremely well. A: When am I going to get back the money I lent you? B: Boy, it’s hot in here.

  11. Presupposition • We say “S1 presupposes S2” when the truth of S2 is taken for granted when S1 is used/uttered. • E.g. Did you stop embezzling public funds? • Presupposition: You embezzled public funds at least once before.

  12. Entailment, Presupposition, Implicatures • S1 entails S2 when the truth of S1 guarantees the truth of Sv and the falsity of S2 guarantees the falsity of S1 • S1 presupposes S2 when using S1 (whether or not S1 is true) requires the truth of S2. Thus, the falsity of S2 causes S1 to sound “funny”. Presup. generally survives under negation. • S1 implicates S2 when using S1 suggests the truth of S2, but this can be canceled.

  13. Entailment • S1 and S2 entails S1 • Robin is a bachelor entails that Robin is male.

  14. Presupposition • Bill regrets that he got married. Presup.: He (Bill) got married. • Bill does not regret that he got married. Presup.: He (Bill) got married. stop, another, both, etc. have presuppositions.

  15. Implicatures • As we saw above, implicatures stem from pragmatic principles like rules of conversation and can be cancelled. E.g. Not all students came to the meeting. Implicates Some students came to the meeting. (Maxim of quantity)

  16. Language in Advertising • In advertising, the bottom line is that they want to sell. • Open-ended comparatives. (Grocery Store) Lower sounds better than low but promises nothing.

  17. More examples from Ads • Get up to ten times stronger hair. (Pantene ProV) • It could save you up to 15% on Allstate homeowners insurance. • Ford LTD is 700% quieter. • More people sleep on Sealy Posturpedic. • Maytags are built to last longer and need fewer repairs

  18. Technical Terms in Ads For example, no-fee offers for cash advances carry hefty interests. no-fee, free ≠ no interest

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