COOPERATION AND IMPLICATURE

I. Cooperation

• When people talk with each other, they try to

converse smoothly and successfully. Cooperation
is the basis of successful conversations.

• "This sense of cooperation is simply one in

which people having a conversation are not
normally assumed to be trying to confuse, trick,
or withhold relevant information from each
other" (Yule, 1996: 35).
COOPERATION AND IMPLICATURE

1. Definition
Cooperation can be understood as an essential
factor when speakers and listeners are interacting,
in other words, it is the expectation that the
listener has towards the speaker. The speaker is
supposed to convey true statements and say
nothing more than what is required.
 Example:
In the middle of their lunch hour, one woman
asks another how she likes the hamburger
she is eating, and receives the answer:
“A hamburger is a hamburger.”

➢ Tautologies : have no communicative value

(a tautology describes something as itself)
➢ Implicature : have something more than
what the words mean.
 GRICE’S ‘CO-OPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
“Make your conversational contribution such as is
required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted purpose and direction of the exchange in
which you are engaged.”
 Maxim 1: Quality (Truth)
Try to make your contribution one that is true
▪ Do not say what you believe to be false.
▪ Do not say that for which you lack adequate
evidence.
Example:
Speaker 1: “How old are you?”
Speaker 2: “I’m 145 years old.”
 Maxim 2: Quantity
(Enough but not too much)
▪ Make your contribution as informative as it
required
▪ Do not say/ make your contribution more
informative than required.
Example:
Speaker 1: “How old are you?”
Speaker 2: “I’m 25 years old. I’m young and friendly.”
Speaker 3: “I’m 25 years old.
 Example 2:
There a woman sitting on a park bench and a large
dog lying on the ground in front of the bench. A man
comes along and sits down on the bench.
Man: “Does your dog bite?”
Woman: “No”
(The man reaches down to pet the dog. The dog
bites the man’s hand.
Man: “Ouch! Hey! You said your dog doesn’t bite.”
Woman: “He doesn’t. But that’s not my dog.”
 Maxim 3: Manner
(Avoid obscurity of expression.)

▪ Be perspicuous
- Avoid ambiguity
- Avoid obscurity of expression
▪ Be brief
▪ Be orderly

Example:
Speaker 1: “How old are you?”
Speaker 2: “I’m 20 years old and 240 months old.”
 Maxim 4: Relevance
(In the current contexts)
▪ Be relevant
Example:
Speaker 1: “How old are you?”
Speaker 2: “I like apple most.”
 HEDGES

Example:

a. As far as I know, they’re married.

b. I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a
wedding ring on her finger.
c. I’m not sure if this is right, but I heard it was a
secret ceremony in Hawaii.
d. He couldn’t live without her, I guess.
 HEDGES
✓ The important of the maxim of quality for
cooperative interaction in English may be
best measured by the number of expressions
we use to indicate that what we’re saying
may not be totally accurate.

✓ When making a statement, certain

expressions can be used to indicate the
degree of certainty concerning the
information given. These expressions are
called hedges.
 IMPLICATURE
1. Definition

• Implicature can be considered as an additional

conveyed meaning (Yule, 1996: 35).

• It is attained when a speaker intends to

communicate more than just what the words
mean. It is the speaker who communicates
something via implicatures and the listener
recognizes those communicated meanings via
inference.
 IMPLICATURE

✓ Implicatures are inferred based on the

assumption that the speaker observes or flouts
some principles of cooperation (different
authors have identified different principles)

✓ The most famous one: Grice (1975) – 4

principles (so called “maxims”)
IMPLICATURE
 CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE

Example:
Wife: “I hope you bought the bread and the cheese.”
Husband: “Ah, I bought the bread.”

The husband did not mention the cheese. Then he

must intend that the wife infers what is not mentioned
was not bought. The husband has conveyed more
than he has said via a conversational implicature.
 GENERALIZED CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE

When no special knowledge is required in the context

to calculate the additional conveyed meaning. It is
called generalized conversational implicature.

Example:

Mary: “I was sitting in a garden one day. A

child look over the fence.
 SCALAR IMPLICATURE

Scalar implicatures occur when certain

information is communicated by choosing a
word which expresses one value from a
scale of value.
<all, most, many, some, few>
<always, often, sometimes>

Example:
“I’m studying linguistics and I’ve completed
some of the required courses.”
 PARTICULARIZED CONVERSATIONAL
IMPLICATURES
Particularized conversational implicatures occur when
a conversation takes place in a very specific context in
which locally recognized inferences are assumed.
Example:
Speaker 1: “Whoa! Has your boss gone crazy?
Speaker 2: “Let’s go get some coffee.”

Context: Speaker 1 has just walked into speaker

2’s office and noticed all the work on her desk.
The boss was in the office at that time.
 CONVENTIONAL IMPLICATURES
Conventional implicatures are not based on the
cooperative principle or the maxims. They do not
have to occur in conversation, and they do not
depend on special contexts for their interpretation.

but, even, yet

Example:
a. Mary suggested black, but I choose white
b. Even John came to the party
c. Dennis isn’t here yet.
THANK YOU