Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Actual Implicature

Actual Implicature

An actual implicature is any potential implicature that is not canceled by its context.

(English)

The expression I think that some went has two potential implicatures:

  • The matrix sentence I think ... has the potential implicature "I don’t know [that some went]."
  • The complement clause ... some went has the potential implicature "not all went."

Of the two potential implicatures, only I don’t know that some went is an actual implicature, because the other occurs in a complement clause that the matrix clause does not entail. If some went were uttered independently, as a main clause, its potential implicature ‘not all went’ would also be its actual implicature.

Page/s: 133–134
Source: Levinson 1983

Levinson, Stephen C. 1983.Pragmatics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University.

Page/s: 55
Source: Gazdar 1979

Gazdar, Gerald. 1979.Pragmatics: Implicature, presupposition, and logical form. New York: Academic.

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Date of creation
05-Ago-2021
Accepted term
05-Ago-2021
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