The application of generalized
conversational implicatures
Since in generalized conversational
implicatures, no special knowledge in the context to calculate the additional
conveyed meaning, it demands that the participants in communication should obey
the cooperative principle and the four maxims if they want to get the message
they needed.
1. The application of quantity maxim
In conversational communication, the
participants both hope that they can get the satisfying sufficient information.
Less or more than informative quantity are not accepted. We look at some examples
that observe quantity maxim.
(1) John has two children
The quantity maxim indicates that the remark
offers the largest quantity of information. It is equal to adding “only” to the
remark. That is to say, John has only two children. But if John has four
children, the remark in example (1) will violate quantity maxim.
On the other hand, if any party of the
participants in communication does not offer sufficient information, the communication
could not flow on. For instance:
(2) A man from Shanghai comes to Harbin and
asks a passer-by on Harbin street:
- Excuse me, could you tell me where is
Harbin Engineering University?
The passer-by answered:
- In Harbin.
Apparently, such an answer holds no
information and violates quantity maxim. Therefore, the answer plays no role in
communication, and even misleads the hearer into thinking that he may say
something impolite to offend the speaker who does not want to tell him. So he
may turn to others. In this example, the passer-by should answer, “In Wenmiao
Street, Nantong District”, to meet the demand of quantity maxim.
2. The application of quality maxim
Since the parties in communication wish to
get true information, to observe quality maxim is also necessary. For example:
(3) Mr. Sun lives inside the campus.
In this remark the generalized conversational
implicature is that I believe he lives inside the campus and I have abundant
proof.
(4) Does Mr. Sun live inside the campus?
The implicature in (4) is that I don’t know
whether he lives inside the campus or not and want to know the fact. The
examples (3) and (4) show that in cooperation, when one states a fact, the
generalized conversational implicature is that one believe the fact is true;
when one asks a question, the implicature is that he sincerely wants to know
the answer. Otherwise, it will violate quality maxim. Therefore, in real
communication, one should observe quality maxim, or he may not only fail in
achieving communicative aim, but to the opposite, make bad impressions to
others. For instance:
(5) A student comes to a teacher’s home. Here
is their dialogue. S stands for the student; T stands for the teacher.
S: Hello, Dear Mr. Sun. It’s my honor to
visit your house. You’re the most famous and respected in our school. Young and
talented, you’re the best candidate to next president of our school.
T: Thank you. But…
S: Oh, I think only you can help me. Mr.
ZHANG failed me in the final exam. Could you help me to persuade him to make me
pass?
T: I’ve no such ability. You speak too highly
of me. I’m busy now.
In this example, the student does not observe
quality maxim. He hardly believes what he said when he praises his teacher, for
lack of sincere motivation. So the teacher refuses him indirectly and does not
want to continue their communication.