Implicature

Abstract

The importance of the notion of implicature in the study of irregular negatives was hinted at in Chap. 1. First, one of the leading theories maintains that the irregular interpretations of negations are implicatures. Second, we have seen that at least some irregular negations are used to deny an implicature of their root. The term implicature was originally introduced by Grice (1975: 24) as the name of a speech act: something speakers do by uttering words. When we say that the root of a negation has an implicature, however, we are applying the term implicature to a sentence. In this chapter, therefore, we will explain the notion of implicature, defining sentence implicature in terms of speaker implicature.