Scalar Implicature
Introduction:
A scalar implicature is a quantity implicature based on the use of an informationally weak term in an implicational scale.
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The use implicates that all similar utterances using an informationally stronger term are not true because, according to the conversational maxim of quantity, a speaker would ordinarily be required to make a stronger, more informative utterance if a true one were available. |
Examples:
- In the utterance some of the boys went to the party, the word some implicates "not all of the boys went to the party."
- The words none, some, and all form an implicational scale, in which the use of one form implicates that the use of a stronger form is not possible.
Source:
133–134
56–59
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.