Explicature

Introduction to Pragmatics

2017 LSA Linguistic Institute

Gregory Ward and

Betty J. Birner

(Neo-)Gricean Tree of Meaning

U#eranceinterpreta,on(whatisconveyed)

whatissaidwhatisimplicated

TCmeaning conven,onallyconversa,onally

conven,onalforce generalizedpar,cularized

SEMANTICS PRAGMATICS

Post-Gricean Tree of Meaning

whatiscommunicated (consciouslyaccessible)

whatissaid whatisimplicated

(truth-condi,onalmeaning)

sentencemeaningwhatisexplicated (notconsciouslyaccessible)

Mo6va6on for Explicature

Determining“whatissaid”involvesmorethan“minimalaccesstocontext”forreferenceassignment,disambigua,on,andtheresolu,onofindexicalsanddeixis.

Sentencemeaningdoesnotdeterminethesetofpossibleseman,cvalues;itconstrainsthem.

So,“whatissaid”,is,inlargemeasure,pragma,callydetermined.

Example

John’sbookWhatisJohn’srela,ontothebook?

•  thebookJohnwrote,owns,likes,hasnearhim,etc.

• Aspeakerintends(andahearerwouldpresumablyunderstand)asinglecontext-specificrela,on.

•  Thiscanbeconsideredpartof“whatissaid”,i.e.partofthespeaker’s(truth-condi,onal)content.

Explicatures

Pragma,callydeterminedaspectsofsentence/proposi,onalmeaning

Example:

A: HowisJanefeelingaTerherfirstyearatUniversity?

B:Shedidn’tgetenoughunitsandcan’tcon,nue.• Whatwasu#ered:Shedidn’tgetenoughunitsandcan’t

con,nue. • Whatwas‘said’:amorepragma,callyenriched(and

complete)proposi,on.

A:HowisJanefeelingaTerherfirstyearatUniversity?

B:Shedidn’tgetenoughunitsandcan'tcon,nue.

Whatwassaid:JANEdidn’tgetenoughUNIVERSITYCOURSEunitsATTHEUNIVERSITYSHEISCURRENTLYATTENDINGTOQUALIFYFORADMISSIONTOHERSECONDYEAROFSTUDYandASARESULTJANEcan’tcon,nueWITHHERSTUDIES.

What was (also) meant (via implicature)

Whatwasimplicated:•  Janeisnotfeelingatallhappyaboutthis. •  Janeisgoingtoloseherfellowship. •  Jane’sparentswillbefurious.•  I’mdelightedthatwe’llfinallyberidofJane.•  You’reJane’sfriendsoyoushouldgoconsole

her.

How to iden6fy explicatures?

(giventhatthey’renotexplicitlyexpressedyetseemtocons,tutepartof“whatwassaid”)

• Referenceandanaphoraresolu,on(she)anddis-ambigua,on(get,units)cons,tutepartofwhatwassaid.

•  Theimplicature(whateveritis)doesnotcons,tutepartofwhatwassaid.

• Whataboutasaresult,toqualify,withherstudies?

A Classic Problem

Iftheoldkinghasdiedofahearta8ackandarepublichasbeendeclared,thenTomwillbequitehappy.Butifarepublichasbeendeclaredandtheoldkinghasdiedofahearta8ack,thenTomwillbequiteunhappy. Strictlyspeaking,thisisacontradic,onintermsoflogicalform,yetintui,velyitdoesn’t‘feel’contradictory,asin:

A:Didyouhaveagood,meattheparty? B: IdidandIdidn’t.

Another Example

EitherhebecameanalcoholicandhispartnerleAhimorhispartnerleAhimandhebecameanalcoholic.

Again,intermsoflogicalform,thisu#eranceshouldberedundant:

(p∧q)∨(q∧p)≡(q∧p)∨(p∧q)

Pragma6c Intrusion

Explicaturesnotonlyserveto‘fillout’aproposi,on,buttheycanalsoaffectthetruthcondiBonsofaproposi,on.

•  Thisphenomenonisknownas“pragma,cintrusion”.•  Non-truth-condi,onalmeaning‘intrudes’intothetruthcondi,onsofaproposi,on.

A Mighty Fine Paradox

Insomecases,implicaturesareneededtoestablishproposi,onalcontentandtruthcondi,ons(andthusmustbepriortothem).

Inothercases,implicaturesaregeneratedfromproposi,onalcontentandtruthcondi,ons(andthusmustbesubsequenttothem).

Solu6on: Two Types of Implicature!

Explicatures:those(cancelable)aspectsofmeaningthatcons,tutepartofproposi,onalcontent(andthusmayintrudeintotheseman,cs).* Implicatures:those(cancelable)aspectsofmeaningthatdonotenterintothedetermina,onof“whatissaid”(andthusmaynotintrudeintotheseman,cs).

* Except for conventional implicatures.

Some likely Explicatures

First,let’sconsidersomemoreexamplesoflikelyexplicatures:(Horn’s)R-Implicatures A) MarthagaveGeorgeherkeyandheopenedthedoor.[withit]B) Joneshasbeeninsultedandhe’sgoingtoresign.[asaresult]

Some Likely Explicatures

Addi,onalexamplesoflikelyexplicatures:

(Horn’s)Q-ImplicaturesA) Pathasthreechildren.[not4]B) Patisanadequatelinguist.[notbrilliant]C) Someofthestudentspassed.[notall]

The Post-Gricean Posi6on

Alloftheseinvolveexplicatures.Thebracketedmaterialiswhatthespeakerintendedtoconveyandwhats/hewouldbeunderstoodashavingmeanteventhoughitwasunexpressed.

Three Important Diagnos6cs

• MINIMALISTPRINCIPLE• AVAILABILITYPRINCIPLE•  SCOPEPRINCIPLE

Diagnos6cs for Explicature

MinimalistPrinciple:Apragma,callydeterminedaspectofmeaningispartofwhatissaidiffitsdetermina,onisnecessaryfortheu#erancetoexpressacompleteproposi,on(alsocalled“satura,on”).

Examples of satura6on:

A)  Herantotheedgeofthecliffandjumped.[fromthecliff]

B)  Shetookahammer,walkedintothegarden,andbrokeastatue.[inthegarden,withahammer]

C)  Johnwentonvaca,oninAustriaandskied.[inAustria]

D)  Canyouopentomorrowmorning?[thestore(vs.thele#er)]

More examples of satura6on

E)  Iliketoeat.[food]F)  Haveyoueaten?[themost,me-appropriate

meal]G)  HeboughtJohn’sbook.[bookbearsXrela,on

toJohn]

Further examples of possible satura6on – missing argument?

A)  Everybodydidwellontheexam.[everybodyintheclass]

B)  I’vebeentoTibet.[inmylife]C)  I’vehadbreakfast.[today]D)  Ididn’tturnoffthestove.[duringthelast,meI

washome]E)  Theparkissomedistancefromhere.[furtherthan

expected,ratherfar]

How Explicatures Work

Thebracketedmaterialiden,fiesaseman,cargument(ordomainofquan,fica,on)neededtobe‘filledin’or‘instan,ated’contextuallyinorderfortheu#eranceinques,ontoconveyacompleteproposi,on.Soweneedadequatetheoriesoflexicalseman,cs,argumentstructure,tense,andquan,fica,on.

Consider again . . .

Theparkissomedistancefromhere.[thedistanceinques,onisfar,greaterthanexpected,etc.]

•  Thiscouldbeanalyzedasinvolvingquan,fica,onoverdistances(itsaysthatthereisadistance‘d’suchthattheparkis‘d’fromus).

•  Theexplicature‘fillsin’theslotcorrespondingtothedomainofquan,fica,on.

• Restrictedonlytocertaindomains?•  Thatwillcostsomemoney,takesome,me/effort/thought/room/space.•  Ineedsomesleep/food/sex/air.

Availability Principle

Weshouldrelyonourintui,onsindecidingwhatissaid.

Theideaisthataprospec,veexplicatureshouldbereadilyiden,fiable,intui,ve,accessible.We'llseethatthatisnotalwaysthecase.

Scope Principle

Apragma,callydeterminedaspectofmeaningispartofwhatissaid(and,therefore,notaconversa,onalimplicature)if–and,perhaps,onlyif–itfallswithinthescopeoflogicaloperatorssuchasnega,onandcondi,onals.

Thatis,ifexplicaturescountas“whatissaid”,thentheyshouldfallwithinthescopeoflogicaloperators(sinceit’sasthoughtheexplicaturehadbeenu#ered).

Condi6onals

Consider:

a)  Iftheoldkinghasdiedofahearta#ackandarepublichasbeendeclared,thenTomwillbequitehappy,butifarepublichasbeendeclaredandtheoldkinghasdiedofahearta#ack,thenTomwillbequiteunhappy.

b)  Ifittakesussome,metogetthere,Johnwillbeangry.

c)  Ifeverybodydidwellontheexam,Iwillbehappy.

d)  IfJohnhastwoki#ensforsale,I’llbuythem.e)  Ifyouleavethedooropenandthecatgetsout,I’llpunishyou.

Nega6on Consider: a) A:Itwilltakeussome,metogetthere. B:False.

b) A:Maryhashadbreakfast. B:False.

c) A:BillhasbeentoTibet. B:False.

d) A:Everybodydidwellontheexam. B:False.

So we seem to have a working set of diagnos6cs

BUT…

Whenabroaderrangeofdataisconsidered,weseethatapplyingtheseprinciplesisnotalwaysastraighnorwardma#er…

Example: The Scope Principle

• Whichexplicaturesfallwithinthescopeofnega,on?

• Whichaspectsofu#erancemeaningfallwithinthescopeofasubsequent“no”or“false”–iftheunexpressedmeaningisnegatedthenitcountsasanexplicature.

Example (a clear one):

A:Ohno,it’s6:00![implica,ng“Ihavetoleave”]

B:No/False.[doesnotmean“Youdon’thavetoleave”]

Group I

Casesofrela,velyclearintrusion–definitelyexplicatures. A:Ihaven’thadbreakfast./Ididn’tturnoffthestove. B:#False/#No.[Youdidin1994.]

A:Everybodydidwellonthefirstassignment.

B:#False/#No.[PresidentObamadidn’t.]

A:Theparkissomedistancefromhere.

B:#True/#Yes.[It'srightacrossthestreet.]

Group II

“False”istoostrong,but“no”ispossible;possiblyexplicatures A: The Smiths have three children. B: ?False/No. [They have four.]

A: John was with an older woman last night. B: #False/?No. [It was his mother.]

A: John went on vacation in Austria and did some skiing. B: #False/No. [He skied in Italy.]

  A: Mathew left the door open and the cat got out. B: #False/No. [The cat got out on its own.]

A: Pat is happy. B: #False/No. [She's ecstatic.]

Group III

Neither“false”nor“no”works;evidenceofnon-intrusion,andthereforenon-explicatures.

A: Smith doesn’t seem to be seeing anybody lately. B: He’s been going to New York every weekend. A: #False/#No. [He’s been going to NY but not to “see anybody”.]

A: Does Pat like Lee and Sean? B: She likes Lee. C: #False/#No.

[She likes Sean (too).]

S6ll more…

A:DoyouspeakLadino? B:IspeakSpanish. C:#False/#No.[YouspeakCatalan(too).]

A:Smithdoesn’tseemtobeseeinganybodylately.B:He’sbeenstayingoutpre#ylatelately.A:#False/?No.[He’sbeenworkingonhisdisserta,oninthelibrary.]

The Problem “False”seemstoostrong;“no”seemstooweaksoserveasacleardiagnos,cforexplicature.

A:Ineedaridetotheairport. B:No./#False.[cf.Ican’t.]

Problem:scalarimplicaturedoesnotbehaveasaunifiedclasswithrespecttonega,on. Conclusion:Minimalistprincipleisamorepromisingdiagnos,cforexplicaturethanthescopeprinciple.

A More Serious Problem

Cardinalsandotherscalarsdonotbehaveasaunifiedclass: A:Doyouhavetwochildren? B1:No–Ihavethree.[metalinguis,cinterpreta,on]

B2:#Yes,infactIhavethree.vs. A:Aremanyofyourfriendslinguists? B1:#No,allofthemare. B2:Yes,infactallofthemare. So,ofthenon-slot-fillers,cardinalsarethebestcandidatesforexplicatures.

Coming Full-circle

Pre-Griceanview:scalarsarelexicallyambiguous. Neo-Griceanview:scalarsareunambiguousatthelevelofwhatissaid(inherent“atleast”reading):implicaturesuppliestheother(“atmost”)reading.

Post-Griceanview:scalarsarenowvague–aninherent“exactly”noran“atleast”reading;unspecifiedun,lenrichedbyexplicature.Thissameanalysiscouldbeextendedtoasymmetricand–ithasneitheraninherenttemporalnorsymmetricsense;itmustbe‘filledin’byexplicatureviasatura,on.

Final Word of Warning

Thepost-Griceanreachhasexceededitsgrasp•  Theno,onofexplicature,howeverusefulitmaybe,mustbescaledback.

•  Itisnotthecasethattheen,reclassofgeneralizedconversa,onalimplicaturescanberecategorizedasexplicatures.

•  Eachconstruc,onisgoingtohavetoanalyzedindividuallyinordertodetermineitsproperplaceinthetreeofmeaning.