NMTS-InferencePage
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Homework of November 27
Task
Come up with or report a short dialogue and use it to illustrate:
- one entailment
- one presupposition (what is the trigger? what kind of presupposition is it?)
- one implicature (what kind of implicature is it? show the calculation by applying the maxims in the case of conversational implicatures)
Dialogues
Dialogue by User:Manfred
The following passage is taken from David Mitchell Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre, 2004, p.33f.
(Comment: this is not a real dialogue, but the text is clear enough so that it is easy to see what has been said in the described situtation.)
- Along the gangway I stepped (Prophetess was bucking like a
- young bronco) to the officers' mess, knocked & entered. Mr
- Roderick & Mr Boerhaave were listening to Cpt. Molyneux. I
- cleared my throat and bade all good morning, at which our ami-
- cable captain swore, `You can better my morning by b-ing
- off, instanter!´
- Coolly, I asked when the captain might find time to hear news
- of an Indian stowaway who had just emerged from the coils of
- hawser taking up my `so-called cabin´. During the ensuing silence
- Cpt. Molyneux's pale, horny-toad complexion turned roast beef
- pink. Ere his blast was launched, I added the stowaway claimed
- to be an able-seaman & begged to work his passage.
Entailment: Line 4: I bade all good morning entails I said something
Presupposition:
Lines 8/9: hear news of an Indian stowaway .... Presupposes: there is an Indian stowaway ....
Type of presuppostion: factive
Note 1: it is remarkable that in this case the presupposition projects over a modal (might) and an embedded question (when ...).
Note 2: the factive presupposition with hear is not as strong as with know, realize or the other predicates discussed in class.
Note 3: In line 12, the verb claim is used. Its complement clause's content (the stowaway is an able-seamben) is not presupposed.
Implicature:
Lines 10: my so-called cabin. Implicature: my cabin is not a proper cabin (because of all the stored hawser)
Type of implicature: particularized conversational implicature.
Calculation: The maxim of manner seems to be flouted (be brief) by the apperantly superfluous so-called. The addressee understands that the speaker wants to communicate more than just saying that the stowaway was in his cabin. The attribute so-called indicates that the object does not fully satisfy the criteria of what would count as a real cabin.
Add your dialogue below
Dialogue by User:Nicki
- A1: I dreamed I had won a million dollars.
- B1: That’s a pitty. My neighbor actually won 5000 dollars last week in the lottery.
- A1: Really that’s amazing. By the way, is the apartment next to you still for sale?
- B1: The owner just removed the ‘for-sale’-sign yesterday.
Entailment:
Line 2:
Entailment: B1 has a neighbor.
Presupposition:
Line 1:
Non-factive presuppostion: A1 did not win a million dollars.
Line 4:
Conversational impliciture: There is no “for sale” sign anymore, so the apartment is sold.
Dialogue by User:Anna P.
Taken from The Big Bang Theory, Season 6 Episode 4 "The Re-Entry Minimization".
- Howard: Hey Ma, twinkle twinkle! You’re little star is home!
- (Tries to open the door, but fails) Ma, the chain is on the door!
- Howard's Mom: Howard? I thought I don’t get to see you until tomorrow.
- Howard: Yeah well, Bearny is not feeling well so I thought I stop by.
- Tell you about the greatest adventure of my life.
- See if you can make me feel bad about it.
- His Mom: Oh ok, hold on. I’m not decent.
- Howard: Alright. (To himself) Woman hasn’t tied her robe in 20 years
- suddenly she is not decent.
- Dr. Schneider: Want me to hide in the closet or go out the back?
- Howard’s Mom: Shhhh… you need to whisper!
- Howard: Ma, who’s in there?
- Howard’s Mom: Ah no body… the TV is on.
- Dr. Schneider: I only got one sock. Where is my other sock?
- Howard: Who is it?
- Howard’s Mom: I told you it’s the TV. James Leno lost his sock,
- It’s hilarious.
- Howard: If you’re busy, I can come back.
- Howard’s Mom: Just gimme a second! (To Mr. Schneider) Go go go!!
- (Dr. Schneider climbs out of the window. Howard catches him)
- Howard: Dr. Schneider?
- Dr. Schneider: Oh… (as if nothing had happen) Hello, Howard!
- Howard: What are you doing here?
- Dr. Schneider: Uhm, house call!
- Howard: You’re a dentist!
- Dr. Schneider: Yes, yes I am. (Turning toward the house, yelling at
- Howard’s Mom) I think he’s on to us!
Entailment:
Line 7: I'm not decent. entails that Howard's mom needs to dress first before she can attend to her son.
Presupposition:
Line 6: See if you can make me feel bad about it. presupposes that his mother usually is giving Howard a hard time.
Type of presupposition: factive.
Implicature:
Line 8/9: Woman hasn’t tied her robe in 20 years suddenly she is not decent. Particularized conversational implicature. Seems to violate the maxim of relevance but still inference is made due to the fact that Howard's utterance is highly ironical, even sarcastic.
Dialogue by User:Katarzyna
- A: Did you go to the dinner party last night?
- B: I had a headache.
- But Ryan and Annie went to the party.
- A: I wasn't aware that they are a couple.
Entailment:
3: Annie went to the party.
Presupposition:
4. Ryan and Annie are a couple. - Factive presupposition, factive predicate: be aware that
Implicature:
2. No, I didn't go to the dinner party last night. - Conversational implicature.
Dialogue by User:Lorena
1. Tim: "Why didn´t you come to John´s party last Saturday night?
2. Most of our friends were there."
3. Kevin: "Well, if I hadn´t had to pick my parents from the airport...
4. I heavily regret that I couldn´t be there."
5. Tim: "I see. Your parents were on holiday, I guess."
6. Kevin: " Yes, exactly."
1. structural presupposition: Tim presupposes that the Kevin knows that there was a party on the particular place and time mentionend. This part of information is assumed to be true, so he can ask a question that contains these given facts.
2. scalar implicature: Tim expresses how many friends there were at the party. He implicates that there were more than many, but less than all friends there.
entailment: If Tim´s first sentence is true, than his second one is also true; i.e. If there was a party and he went there, it is likely that he also met friends there.
3. counterfactual presupposition: The opposite of Kevin´s utterance is true - he had to pick his parents from the airport.
Furthermore, his utterance serves as an explanation for his absence and implicates that if he hadn´t had to fetch them, he would have been at the party.
4. factive presupposition: The verb regret emphasizes the fact of his absence. But it also expresses that he could have been there.
5. hedge (I guess) concerning the maxim of quality of the cooperative principle: Tim conveys that he is not quite sure if his friend´s parents were abroad. The usage of this cautious note indicates that his inference might not be accurate.
Dialogue by User:Lisa
- Lisa and Verena are chatting during a lecture.
- Lisa says: "I really regret havig taken this course."
- Verena nodds and asks: "How is your dog?"
- "Oh she is fine. But yesterday she drove me crazy.
- She chased a cat and ran into a garden!"
Entailment:
Line 1:
Lisa is talking.
Verena is talking.
Presupposition:
Line 2: "I regret having taken this course" presupposes that Lisa took the course. The presupposed information following the verb "regret" can be treated as a fact. Therefore, it is a factive presuppostion.
Line 3: "How is your dog" presupposes that Lisa has a dog. Explanation as in 2.
Implicature:
Line 5: "...chased a cat and ran into a garden!" Implicature: It was not Lisa´s cat or garden. She does not know to whom both belongs. Here, no special knowledge is required in the context to calculate the additional conveyed meaning. If Lisa was capable of being more specific she would have said "my garden/cat" or " the garden/cat of xy" (following the maxim of quantity). Therefore, it is a generalized conversational implicature.
Dialogue by User:AnKa
1. A: We have many teachers in our school.
2. B: Is there a male English teacher at your school?
3. A: The class next door has a male teacher.
Line 1:
Entailment:
A has at least some teachers in her/his school.
Line 2: Presupposition: Either there is a male English teacher at the school or there isn’t. It is a question.
Line 3: Implicature Conversational Implicature: Maxim of Quality. The Speaker does not want to give a precise answer because he might be uncertain.
Dialogue by User:Moonhwa9113
1. Tom: “Good morning Mary, did you sleep well?”
2. Mary: “Not really. I dreamt I was a rat. It was awful”
3. Tom: “This might sound odd but I think I heard you squeaking last night.”
Entailment:
Line 2 entails that Mary had been sleeping.
Presupposition: In line 2 Mary explains she dreamt she was a rat which proves she isn’t in real-life. Hence it forms a non-factive presupposition.
Implicature In line 3 we see that the speaker Tom hedges (maxim of quality) while he carefully admits to have heard Mary squeaking but is either not sure or simply does not want to embarrass her.
Dialogue by User:Elisabeth.krall
1. Tom: How did you like the concert?
2. Tim: I don’t know. I was not really getting into the flow of those reggae beats.
3. Tom: Oh, I can see your point. But still I do not regret having bought those over-priced tickets.
4. Tim: Yeah, me neither. The tonality was neither in the Aeolian mode nor in Ionic as I expected it to be for I play reggae myself and the guitar chords would have sounded a lot better openly than in power chords and the bass guitar always emphasized the forth and the seventh instead of the third and the quint, though.
5. Tom: Ohhh… yes, if you say so.
Factive Presupposition: “I do not regret having bought those over – priced tickets” (3); the sentence presupposes that Tom bought over-priced tickets.
Entailment: “I was not really getting into the flow of those reggae beats” (2); the remark entails that Tom was not able to fully feel the rhythm and the atmosphere of the reggae music played at the concert; therefore, he was not able to “identify” with the music
Implicature: remark 4; Tom violates the Maxim of Manner; he is not brief and does not avoid unnecessary prolixity
Dialogue by User:Anna
1. Mary and Peter are eating breakfast and talking.
2. Peter: Did you go to an interview yesterday?
3. Mary: The timing belt broke.
4. I did not manage to go there.
5. Peter: oh..., Can you pass the salt?
Entailment: (1) Both Mary and Peter are eating breakfast.
Presupposition: (3) Structural presupposition: The timing belt broke- Mary did not go to an interview.
(4) Lexical presupposition: She didn’t manage to go there- She was not there.
Implicature: (5) Conversational implicature: Peter wants Mary to pass him salt.
Dialogue by User: Anna Böcher
The following dialogue is an excerpt taken from „Pygmalion“ by Bernard Shaw.
Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering are discussing how to treat the flower girl Eliza, who should be taught in proper English by Higgins.
1 PICKERING: Doesn't it occur to you, Higgins, that the girl has some feelings?
2 HIGGINS: Oh no, I don't think so. Not any feelings that we need bother about.
3 Have you, Eliza?
4 ELIZA: I got my feelings same as anyone else.
5 HIGGINS: You see the difficulty?
6 PICKERING: Eh? What difficulty?
7 HIGGINS: To get her talk grammar. The mere pronunciation is easy enough.
8 ELIZA: I don't want to talk grammar. I want to talk like a lady in a flower-shop.
Entailment: The second sentence in line 8 entails that there are persons who talk like ladies in a flower-shop.
Presupposition: Eliza's statement in line 4 is a factive presupposition, as it presupposes that anyone else has feelings.
Implicature: The question about Eliza's feelings in line 1 is a scalar implicature. Pickering asks whether Higgins thinks that Eliza has some feelings, which implicates that she has feelings but not many.
Dialogue by User:Leo
Two really old people, they might be your own grandparents, maybe just a couple years older, talk to each other. The husbands name is Kurt. Liselotte is his wife.
K: Have you seen Gretel in the last couple of days? You haven‘t been out much. Getting too old, eh?
L: She‘s in hospital. Have you forgotten again? She broke her leg. Do you ever listen to me?
K: I listen to you almost all the time. The pain in your back, your friends, your grandchildren, your cooking shows. And who listens to me?
Entailment: “She broke her leg" entails that Gretel had a leg-injury.
Presupposition: “Have you forgotten again?“ presupposes that the couple has talked about Gretel‘s stay in hospital more than once before and Kurt has at least once forgotten about it. This is a lexical presupposition.
“Have you seen Gretel in the last couple of days?“ presupposes that someone called Gretel exists and both Kurt and Liselotte know her.
Implicature: “I listen to you almost all the time“ implicates that Kurt does not listen to Liselotte every time she says something. This is a scalar implicature. Here, the maxim of quality seems to be slightly violated because he most likely listens even less than stated.
Dialogue by User:Ulrike
- Ben: I want to be in London right now walking along the South Bank.
- Kate: Oh, that’s funny! My best friend Jake just took off to London visiting some friends yesterday.
- Ben: Really? That is not fair! In which part of London do his friends live?
- Kate: Well, I think they live in Hammersmith, but I am not sure.
Entailment:
Line 2:
Entailment: Kate has got a friend called Jake and he is in London. Jake has got other friends who live in London.
Presupposition:
Line 1:
Non-factive Presupposition: Ben is not in London at that time.
Impliciture:
Line 4:
Implicature: Kate does not know exactly in which part of London Jake’s friends live.
Dialogue by User:Marc M
1 Queen E II and Prince P sit in front of the TV enjoying a glass of wine
2 Weatherman: „It's the 4th August 2012 and the outlook is splendid. Light summer rain and 12 degrees Celsius. A perfect English summer day … ”
3 Queen E II: I dreamed my mother were still alive last night. If she hadn't drunk that much gin, she could still be here...
4 Prince P: Well my dear, when was your mother born?
5 Queen E II: On this very same day in 1900 as you very well know. I regret not having stopped her drinking.
6 Prince P: There you are – She would have been 112 years old by now.
7 Queen E II: Still – she might have been with us a little longer.
8 Prince P: Anyway darling, talking about age: let's enjoy this vintage. It's matured to perfection and I guess a glass of it won't hurt us.
entailment
Line 1: Queen E II and Prince P own some wine and at least one glass. (Probably much more than that ;-) )
Presupposition
Line 3: Non-factive presupposition: "I dreamed my mother were still alive last night" (>> Her mother is not with them)
Line 3: Counterfactual presupposition: "If she hadn't drunk that much gin" (>> She has drunk that much gin)
implicature
Line 8: Hedge: "I guess a glass of it won't hurt us" (note regarding the accuracy/quality of the statement)
Dialogue by User:Slc
The following lines are taken from American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, pp.38-9
- Wei-Chen: ...EH...WE- B- BE FRIEND?
- Yin: I HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS
- Wei-Chen: ...SORRY? REPEAT, PLEASE?
- Yin: I HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS
- Wei-Chen: ...EH...WHO?
- Yin: THEM.
- Wei-Chen: OH.
- Wei-Chen: *SIGH*
- Yin: <WHAT IS THAT?>
- Wei-Chen: <A TOY ROBOT.>
- Wei-Chen: <HE CAN CHANGE INTO A ROBOT MONKEY>
- Wei-Chen: <MY FATHER GAVE IT TO ME JUST BEFORE I LEFT. AS A GOOD-BYE PRESENT.>*
∗ In this text, pointed brackets are used to signal that the dialogue is in another language.
Entailment:
Line 12 has a number of background entailments. Including:
12 a. Wei-Chen has a Father b. Wei-Chen was given something c. Wei-Chen and his Father said good-bye to one another.
Presupposition:
In line 12, there is a structural presupposition: "MY FATHER GAVE IT TO ME JUST BEFORE I LEFT". This presupposes that he left somewhere.
Implicature:
The implicature in lines 2 & 4 "I HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS" is a generalized conversational implicature.
Calculation: the answer flouts the maxim of relevance as it does not directly answer the question. However, we can infer that the implicature is a rude way of saying I do not want to be friends with you (I have enough friends and I don't need you as another friend) and therefore does represent a rational and cooperative communication. Like all conversational implicatures, it is cancellable, therefore it would have been possible to say "but I would like to be friends with you" in the next sentence.
Dialogue by User:VerenaS
Sylvia: Where has Steven moved? (entailment: A person called Steven exists and is known to both, Simon and Sylvia)
Simon: Somewehere near Moscow. (implicature: Simon does not know the exact town Steven has moved to)
Sylvia: Oh, I can't forget our nights in Transilvania. (factive presupposition: there were nights together with Simon in Transilvania)
Dialogue by User:Hilâl
Carry: My brother Jake cannot go to Brazil. (entailment: Carry has a brother whose name is Jake.)
Sarah: Why can't he go there?
Carry: He didn't pass the exam. (presupposition: Jake had to take an exam in order to go to Brazil.)
Sarah: Is he now going to do the course again? (implicature: Jake still has the opportunity to get to Brazil if he does the course again)
Dialogue by User:FlorianB
X: What's in this bottle? (Entailment: There is a bottle and X does not know its contents.)
Y: Motor oil. It'll be tasty. (Implicature: Y or someone else is going to drink the oil.)
X: I'd better call a doctor. (Presupposition: Drinking motor oil is not a good idea and a doctor - for the insane? - should be consulted.)
Dialogue by User:Jennifer Borchert
A: When will you be allowed to leave the hospital? ("entailment": B is in the hospital and A knows that.)
B: I guess in a week. ("presupposition": the word 'guess' tells us that B doesn't know the exact time when he/she is allowed to leave the hospital.)
A: I really look forward to our holidays in june! ("implicature": A takes a vacation in june, possible with B.)
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