The conventional implicature of Dōu b (Dōu 2 ,Dōu 3 ): On Semantics of Dōu b from the Perspective of Discourse Analysis

Abstract

In existing studies dōu b (dōu 2 , dōu 3 ) is a polarity-marker and a universal quantifier which sometimes expresses having done or been and has an emphatic function. This paper argues that marking-a-polarity, universal quantification and expressing having done or been are all conversational implicatures or context meanings of dōu b sentences. And as a kind of generalized conversational implicature the emphatic function which belongs to dōu b construction is drawing from a plausible inference. But it is not the conventional meaning of dōu b . The conventional implicature of dōu b indicates that the speaker has made a judgment on the state of affairs described by a proposition, and he/she believes that the possibility of the state of affairs is inferior-to-expectation (or normal). As a kind of rule meaning it is a non-truth conditional, procedural and pragmatic meaning. But it is different from an ordinary rule meaning that is an explicit, literal, objective and truth conditional meaning because it is subjective, non-truth conditional and implicit. And it is different from a conversational implicature because it is non-cancellable.