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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Semantics and Pragmatics

Implicature

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈɪmplɪkətʃə/nounAdvanced term

In linguistics & grammar, implicature means: Meaning that a speaker suggests without saying it directly and that a listener works out from context, as when 'Some students passed' suggests that not all of them did.

In Turkish: sezdirim, ima

How it is used

The term comes from the philosopher H. P. Grice, who linked it to the cooperative principle and its maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner. Unlike entailment, an implicature can be cancelled: 'Some passed; in fact, all did.'

Example sentences

  1. If a reference letter only praises a candidate's handwriting, the implicature is that the candidate is weak.

  2. Learners may miss the implicature in 'It's getting late', which often means 'I want to leave'.

Common collocations

  • conversational implicature
  • scalar implicature
  • Gricean implicature
  • cancel an implicature
  • pragmaticsThe study of how context affects meaning: how speakers mean more than they actually say, and how listeners work out intended meanings, politeness and hints.
  • presuppositionBackground information that a sentence takes for granted as true, such as 'I have a car' in 'My car is being repaired'.
  • speech actAn utterance seen as an action, such as promising, apologizing, requesting, warning or thanking, rather than only as a way of giving information.
  • contextThe situation, surrounding text and shared knowledge in which something is said or written, which help listeners and readers understand the intended meaning.

More terms: Semantics and Pragmatics

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