Chapter+4+Conversational+Implicature

ChapterFourConversationalImplicature4.1Whatisimplicaure?Theword‘implicature’,likeitscognate(同源词)‘implication’,isderivedfromtheverb‘toimply’.Etymologicallyspeaking（从词源学角度讲）,‘toimply’means‘tofoldsomethingintosomethingelse’.Whatisimplied,or‘foldedin’hastobe‘unfolded’inordertobeunderstood.Aconversationalimplicatureis,therefore,somethingwhichisimpliedinaconversation,thatis,somethingwhichisleftimplicitinactuallanguageuse.4.2ImplicationandImplicatureTheuseoftheterm‘implication’,asdistinguishedfrom‘implicature’,usuallyindicatesarathernarrowlydefinedlogicalrelationshipbetweentwopropositions(命题).Weusepandqtosymbolizethetwopropositions.Thelogicalimplicationpatternis“ifp,thenq”or,p→qThisif—thenrelationshipisalsowellknowninourdailylife,andcanbeexpressedineverydaylanguage.Supposeamotherwantshersontofinishhismeal,andasarewardofthis,shepromisestobuyhimhisfavoritedinosaurbook.Usingif—thenrelationship,wegetthelogicalexpressionofp→qas:Ifyoufinishyourmeal,Iwillbuyyouthatdinosaurbook.Logicalimplicationdoesnotcorrespondwithwhatineverydaylifeweunderstandby‘implicature’or‘implies’.Inaword,logicandeverydaylifedonotalwayslookatthingsinthesameway.Basedonthisdistinction,wemaysaythat‘implicature’isaninferredmeaningwhichisdifferentfromthelogicalmeaning(implication)oftheoriginalutterance.4.3SignificanceoftheNotionofImplicature4.3.1Thenotionofimplicatureprovidessomeexplicitaccountofhowitispossibletomeanmorethanwhatisactually‘said’,ormorethanwhatisliterallyexpressed.Considerthefollowingexchange:A:Shallweholdthefootballmatchtomorrow?B:Itisraining.Semanticandliteralmeaning:hisanswerunrelatedtothequestion.Intendedmeaning:thefootballmatchwillbecanceledasthegroundiswetandslipperyaftertherain.Anotherexample:A:Canyoutellmethetime?B:Well,themilkmanhascome.B’semanticandliteralmeaning:Well,themilkmancameatsometimepriortothetimeofspeaking.B’simplicature:Sorry,Idon’tknowtheexacttimeofthepresentmoment,butIcanprovidesomeinformationfromwhichyoumaybeabletodeducetheappropriatetime,namely‘themilkmanhascome’.Conclusion:Thereisagapbetweenwhatisliterallysaidandwhatisimplied.Thisgapissosubstantial(本质的)thatwecannotexpectasemantictheorytoexplainhowwecommunicateusinglanguage.Thenotionofimplicature,however,bridgesthegapbyexplaininghowmeaningsareeffectivelyconveyed.4.3.2Thenotionofimplcaturesimplifiesboththestructureandthecontentofsemanticdescription.Inthissense,implicaturedoesnotexplainhowawordorexpressionhasseveralliteralmeaningsbutexplainshowawordorexpressioncouldimplydifferentmeaningsbydifferentlanguageusers.e.g.Thelonerangerjumpedonhishorseandrodeintothesunset.ThecapitalofFranceisParisandthecapitalofEnglandisLondon.Sofromsemanticpointofview,itmayholdthat‘and’hastwomeaningsinthetwosentences.Butfrompragmaticpointofview,itholdsthattheword‘and’isaconjunction.Itislanguageuserswhouseittoconveyvariousmeaningsunderspecificcontext.Conclusion:Sointhissense,pragmaticstudyofthenotionofimplicaturesimplifiesboththestructureandthecontentofsemanticdescription.Itholdsthatawordmeaningisgenerallysimple,straightforwardandsteady.Onlycontextmakesawordtakeondifferentshadesofmeanings.e.g.Theclothiswhite.Theclothiswhite,redandgreen.4.3.3Thenotionofimplicaturehasaverygenerativeexplanatorypower.Withthehelpofthecontext,implicaturemayexplainhowalargenumberofapparentlyunrelatedsentencesmayconveythesamemeaning.Inthiswayimplicaturehelpstomakeourlanguageusecolorful.Takethefollowingsentencesasexamples1)Iwantyoutoclosethedoor.2)Pleaseclosethedoor.3)Canyouclosethedoor?4)Howaboutabitlessbreeze?5)Now,Johnny,whatdobigpeopledowhentheycomein?6)Okay,Johnny,whatamIgoingtosaynext?Conclusion:Sointhiscase,implicaturehelpstoexplainhowsomeseeminglyunrelatedsentencescometomeanthesame.Withthehelpofcontext,theuseofimplicaturemakesourlanguageusemorecolorful.Wemayexpressthesamemeaningindifferentwaystosuitappropriatecontexts.(何自然PP67-69)4.4ConventionalImplicatureThereisthekindofmeaningthatisalwaysassociatedwithanexpressionsothatoneveryoccasionwhentheexpressionoccurs,themeaningoccurs.Thismeaningwhichisnaturallyassociatedwithanexpressionisknownasconventionalimplicature,or‘entilment’(规约含义),or‘naturalmeaning’.Becauselanguageisbasicallyculture-specific,conventionalimplicatureofthesameexpressionmayvaryunderdifferentculturalbackground.Forexample,‘white’givestheimplicatureofpurityandchastity(贞操、贞洁)inwesternculturesandisassociatedwithabride;butitindicatesill-luckandmisfortuneinChinaandisassociatedwithmourning.Oftentheconventionalimplicaturesareformedbytheconventionaluseoflanguagewithinspecificculturalbackground.Theymayormaynotbesharedbyallcultures.Grice于1957年在《哲学评论》（PhilosophicalReview)上发表了《意义》(Meaning)一文。在文中，Grice把“意义”分为两类：“自然意义”(naturalmeaning)和“非自然意义”(non-naturalmeaning)，并正式提出了“非自然意义理论”。关于“自然意义”，他举了这样一个例子：Thosespotsmeantmeasles(那些斑点意味着麻疹)。他指出，如果不存在施事者（因而也不涉及施事者的意图），话语的意义只是“自然地”被理解，那么，这类话语就只表达“自然意义”。关于“非自然意义”，Grice认为它具有如下特点：S发出U，具有非自然意义，当且仅当：(i)S发出U，试图在H那儿引起某种效果Z；(ii)通过H认可S的意图而使S的愿望不折不扣地实现。S→说话人H→听话人U→由语言符号构成的话语Z→粗略地代表在听话人那儿产生的信仰或意志力，或作出的反应。Grice的“非自然意义理论”实际上是一种交际理论（atheoryofcommunication）。4.5ConversationalImplicatureUnl