Exercise Implicatures
The following material is an adapted form of material created by student participants of the project e-Learning Resources for Semantics (e-LRS).
Involved participants: Stephanie C., Stephie R., Jenny, Anna P.
Grice's Conversational Maxims
According to Grice's theory of conversational implicature, there are four basic maxims which specify how to be cooperative in conversation: Quantity, Manner, Quality and Relation. Grice believed that implicatures arise when these maxims are violated and the speaker (relying on an assumption of cooperation) is forced to infer meaning.
The youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI9tFOcVnV4 contains short clips with examples of violations of the four maxims.
Scalar Implicatures
This exercise deals with Scalar Implicatures. A linguistic scale consists of a set of linguistic alternates, or contrastive expressions of the same grammatical category, which can be arranged in a linear order by degree of informativeness or semantic strength. (Take a look at the participants' Prezi presentation if you need help with the scalar implicatures.)
Implicatures in Figures of Speech