Philosophy Pragmatics Questions Medium
Implicature is a concept in pragmatics that refers to the meaning conveyed indirectly or implicitly in a conversation, beyond the literal meaning of the words used. It involves understanding what a speaker intends to communicate beyond the explicit content of their utterance. Relevance implicature, on the other hand, is a specific type of implicature that focuses on the relevance of the information conveyed.
Relevance implicature is based on the idea that speakers generally aim to be relevant in their communication. They provide information that they believe is relevant to the ongoing conversation or the listener's interests. This implicature arises when a speaker includes or omits certain information, assuming that the listener will infer its relevance.
For example, if someone says, "I saw John at the party yesterday, and he was wearing a suit," the relevance implicature could be that the speaker wants to convey that John's choice of attire was unusual or unexpected for a party. The speaker assumes that the listener will infer the relevance of mentioning the suit in this context.
Relevance implicature is closely related to the Cooperative Principle, which is a fundamental principle of conversation proposed by philosopher Paul Grice. The Cooperative Principle suggests that speakers and listeners cooperate in conversation by following certain maxims, such as the maxim of relevance. According to this maxim, speakers should provide information that is relevant to the ongoing conversation.
In summary, implicature is the indirect meaning conveyed in a conversation, while relevance implicature specifically focuses on the relevance of the information conveyed. It is based on the assumption that speakers aim to be relevant in their communication and expect listeners to infer the intended relevance of their utterances.