Lecture 3: Implicatures, Presupposition, Maxims

Study Questions 3

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9. Speech acts can also be, and in fact very often are, indirect. What are Grice's maxims, what is implicature, and how are these ideas related to pragmatic analysis?

10. Remember question 4, from ISF1. We had the following verbal exchange:

Q: Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks, Mr Bronston?
A: No, sir.
Q: Have you ever?
A: The company had an account there for about six months, in Zurich.

Mr. Bronston was tried for perjury, because the 'truth' was that Bronston once had a large personal bank account in Swizerland for 5 years.
Using the concept of implicature and Gricean maxims explain:

a. What is presupposed?
b. What maxims did Mr. Bronston violate?
c. How can we prove that? What implicatures lay behind this violation?

Please, send the answers to:
biljana@ling.gu.se