Cooperation and Implicature (English Linguistics II)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the Cooperation and Implicature lecture notes.

Cooperativity

means that speakers normally work together, share a common goal, and follow principles of truthfulness, relevance, and rationality, assuming mutual cooperation to understand both direct and indirect meanings.

The Cooperative Principle

4 Maxims

Make your conversational contribution as required, at the stage it occurs, according to the accepted purpose of the exchange.

The Four Maxims:

1. Quantity – Give the right amount of information.

   • Not too little, not too much.

   • e.g. A: Where does he live? B: Near a lake.

2. Quality – Be truthful.

   • Don’t say what you believe is false.

   • Don’t say things without evidence.

   • e.g. “I’m dead right now.” (violates quality).

3. Relation – Be relevant.

   • e.g. A: What’s the weather like tomorrow? B: I’ll be on my way then.

4. Manner – Be clear.

   • Avoid obscurity/ambiguity.

   • Be brief and orderly.

   • e.g. A: What’s the patient’s condition? B: He’s pretty messed up.

Hedges

• Hedges are words or phrases that soften what we say.

• They make an utterance less direct or forceful.

• They show the speaker is aware of the conversational maxims and wants to be seen as cooperative.

HEDGES AS MARKERS OF MAXIM AWARENESS

①QUALITY: as far as I know; I may be mistaken, but; I’m not sure whether this is correct; I guess, I assume etc.

②QUANTITY: as you probably know, …; to cut a long story short; I won’t bore you with the details

③RELATION: this may seem a superfluous remark, but; it’s just a minor detail, but; this may not be relevant here, but…

④MANNER: this may be confusing, but; this may seem a stupid ques?on, but

Properties of Conversational Implicatures 3

meanings we infer beyond what is directly said. They can be:

1. Calculable → The implied meaning can be worked out from context.
   *e.g. “There’s got to be 2,000 calories in there” → No thanks.

2. Suspendable/Cancelable → The implication can be withdrawn.
   e.g. “I shouldn’t eat cake, but I’ll have one, thanks.”

3. Reinforceable → The implied meaning can be emphasized.
   e.g. “I’d love one – I haven’t eaten all day!”

Types of Implicatures 2

1. Conventional Implicature

• Comes from the words themselves (lexical meaning).

• Fixed, context-independent.

• e.g. “Even John came” → implies surprise/contrast.

2. Conversational Implicature

• Comes from the context and how utterances are interpreted.

• Flexible, context-dependent.

• *e.g. A: “Want to stay in Rome?” B: “Sally’s mom is having surgery.” → implies No, can’t.

👉 Short definition:

• Conventional = word-based, fixed meaning.

• Conversational = context-based, inferred meaning.

Conversational Implicatures (types) 2

Definition: Meanings implied from context, not explicitly said.

1. Generalized Conversational Implicature (GCI)

• Needs no special context → inference is automatic.

• e.g. “The woman helped a child” → not her own child.

• e.g. A: Did you invite Cathy and Bella? B: I invited Bella. → not Cathy.

2. Particularized Conversational Implicature (PCI)

• Depends on a specific context.

• e.g. A: Want to stay in Rome?
  B: Sally’s mom is having surgery.
  → implies “No, can’t” (but context makes it clear).

• e.g. A: Do you like ice-cream?
  B: Is the Pope Catholic? → Yes, of course.

3. Scalar Implicature (Special type of GCI)

• Based on scales of informativeness (all > most > many > some).

• Saying a weaker term implies negation of stronger ones.

• e.g. “I’ve done some of the courses” → not all.

• e.g. “Sometimes lecturers are prepared” → not always.

👉 Shortcut definition for flashcard:

• GCI = general, context-free.

• PCI = context-specific.

• Scalar = based on word scales (some → not all).

Conventional Implicatures

Definition:
Extra meanings attached to certain words or expressions by convention, not by context or the Cooperative Principle.

• They don’t depend on context.

• They are lexically tied to words like but, still, even, yet.

Examples:

• Mary got pregnant but John was pleased.
  → “but” = contrary to expectation.

• He’s still not here yet.
  → “still” = taking longer than expected.