Geoff Cavanough

Second Exercise
1.
A promise can only be fulfilled in the future.
Regardless of whether or not H (or S) believes that S will or won't fulfil A, S must
believe that A being promised is doable.
A speech act that constitutes a true promise requires the verbs 'promise' or 'swear',
only then are they illocutionary speech acts. However, speech acts spoken in the
future tense can be treated like promises, probably because promises require future
acts.
S may feel a moral obligation to promise A.
If H understands that S is not able or reliable to fulfil the A that is being promised,
then H (and possibly S) will not expect the A to be fulfilled. In other words, S can
make promises they can't keep.
If H understands that S is able or reliable to fulfil the A that is being promised, then H
(and probably S) will expect the A to be fulfilled. The fulfilment of the A has an
expectation of it being met, and if unmet, constitutes a broken promise, which does
not necessarily mar the reliability of S.
FC: S may feel obliged or pressured (whether directly or indirectly) by H (or by a
third party) to do A.
FC: S may use the promise of A to placate or manipulate H.
Advantages & Problems
What constitutes a promise? And does it have to be understood by both S and
H that what is said is actually a promise?
Are threats promises? Is, "I swear to you, I'm going to kill you" a promise?
Do promises require the verbs swear, promise etc. for them to be promises, or
will the future tense simply do, "I will love you for the rest of my life".
The relationship the H has with the S has significant implications:
Employer/employee, parent/child, politician/citizen.

2. (a)
Processing of literal meaning and activation of encyclopaedic knowledge
1. B interprets 'not get through' to refer to being 'disqualified'. A's question revolves
around 'the final' but B's answer talks about 'the heats'. B's 'some people' doesn't
explicitly state whether those who were disqualified were on the team or not.
Application of CP
2. A realizes that B's answer does not explicitly constitute a cooperative reply to the
question.
3. A assumes that B is still abiding by the Cooperative Principle, but on the level of
implicature.
4. A assesses Bs answer against the 4 conversational maxims:

Geoff Cavanough
Quantity: B's answer isn't informative enough for A's question: A's question is
about people on a specific team and whether or not they all made it through to the
final, which information B doesn't satisfactorily supply.
Quality: Lets assume that A has no reason not to think that the reply isnt true.
Relevance: B's reply is partly relevant as it responds to the question of whether or
not people were disqualified, one of the only ways that members of the team might
not 'get through to the finals'. A asks about 'the finals' but B talks about 'the heats',
which, although isn't relevant to the team, is saying that some people didn't even make
it through the heats let alone the finals. B's reply with 'some people' implies that s/he
doesn't know whether or not anyone on the team were disqualified, but that some
people were disqualified before the heats and therefore never had a chance at the
finals.
Manner: Bs answer is grammatical, unambiguous (in itself), orderly, and so on, as
an expression about the current events taking place and about disqualification.
A concludes that B has fully infringed Quantity, and partly infringed Relevance.
5. A assumes that if B had been able to abide by all the maxims, s/he would have
done so.
6. A therefore looks for a reason for which B has not been able to abide by the
maxims.
Hypothesis about Bs reasons for infringing maxims
7. A assumes that the reason B did not abide by the maxims is that they were
unable to answer the question directly. A reason for which A may have been unable to
answer directly is that they do not know if people on the team being referred to made
it through to the finals. Another possibility is that B doesn't know any information
about the finals at all, but felt their knowledge of what happened surrounding the
heats could give some information that may answer A's question. This could count as
one of the implicatures which A extracts.
Extraction of implicature
8. On the basis of 7, A extracts the implicature that B doesnt know if anyone on
the team made it through to the finals, but gave what information they could regarding
what preceded the finals.
(b)
Processing of literal meaning and activation of encyclopaedic knowledge
1. 'A film' can refer to a movie in all of its mediums (DVD, cinema screening,
television broadcast, etc.). 'Go and see a film' refers to an action or event of going to a
cinema or outdoor theatre at a time/date set by those running the event. 'Telly' is
medium that one can regularly watch films on, so one could expect a film to be on
telly.
Application of CP
2. A realizes that B's answer does not explicitly constitute a cooperative reply to the
question.

Geoff Cavanough
3. A assumes that B is still abiding by the Cooperative Principle, but on the level of
implicature.
4. A assesses Bs answer against the 4 conversational maxims:
Quantity: B's answer is in a similar vein to A's question: A's question is about
whether or not they should watch a movie. A's question is about going somewhere to
watch a film and B's response implies that they may not necessarily need to go
somewhere to watch a movie. However B doesn't give a yes or no response, thus
infringing on Quantity.
Quality: Lets assume that A has no reason not to think that the reply isnt a helpful
suggestion for their plans that evening.
Relevance: B's reply is mostly relevant. It doesn't elicit a direct answer to A's
question but it does give an alternative to the plans being suggested.
Manner: Bs answer is grammatical, unambiguous (in itself), orderly, and so on. In
fact, had B not infringed upon the maxim of Quantity and given a direct yes or no
answer, the response may have been viewed as impolite/rude.
A concludes that B has infringed Quantity.
5. A assumes that if B had been able to abide by all the maxims, s/he would have
done so.
6. A therefore looks for a reason for which B has not been able to abide by the
maxims.
Hypothesis about Bs reasons for infringing maxims
7. A assumes that the reason B did not abide by the maxims is that they were trying
to present an alternative to the suggestion given in a polite manner. There are many
reasons why B would have done so, such as wanting to save money, not thinking that
they would like to see any of the films currently screening etc. B may have been
trying to imply to A that they were tired or unwell, not wanting to go out.
Extraction of implicature
8. On the basis of 7, A extracts the implicature that B doesnt either want to go out
to see a film or that they are simply suggesting alternative plans.
(c)
Processing of literal meaning and activation of encyclopaedic knowledge
1. 'A disaster' refers to a dramatic, catastrophic event. In many contexts, 'disaster'
can be a hyperbole for 'bad, terrible, horrible' etc. The phrase 'it wasn't a total' could
be exchanged for 'it was partly a' in this context.
Application of CP
2. A realizes that B's answer does not explicitly constitute a cooperative reply to the
question.
3. A assumes that B is still abiding by the Cooperative Principle, but on the level of
implicature.
4. A assesses Bs answer against the 4 conversational maxims:

Geoff Cavanough
Quantity: B's answer describes how the party wasn't, because the necessary
implicature made by that statement says 'it wasn't good' either. However, the use of
'total' implies that there was at least one aspect of the party that was good or that made
it less of a disaster, so information is being withheld.
Quality: Lets assume that A has no reason not to think that the reply isnt true.
Relevance: B's reply is relevant. It doesn't tell us why the party was a total disaster
but does reflect how B felt about the party, which is what A is asking for.
Manner: Bs answer is grammatical, unambiguous (in itself), orderly, and so on.
A concludes that B has infringed Quantity.
5. A assumes that if B had been able to abide by all the maxims, s/he would have
done so.
6. A therefore looks for a reason for which B has not been able to abide by the
maxims.
Hypothesis about Bs reasons for infringing maxims
7. A assumes that the reason B did not abide by the maxims is that B didn't want to
talk about the party because of how bad it was. Perhaps the amount of bad things
about the party surpassed the good, so it wasn't a total disaster, but it the good parts of
it couldn't redeem the event.
Extraction of implicature
8. On the basis of 7, A extracts the implicature that B doesnt want to talk about the
party or at least what happened/why it was a disaster, as well as that the event didn't
go well.
Problems
A problem I encountered was discerning how much of what was and wasn't being
said that was actually being communicated, both directly and implied. It was quickly
realised how relevant context is, which involved double-checking the definition of
'heats'. Also going through the steps of what led the hearer through to the implicatures
felt very robotic and clinical, and as correct (or incorrect) as they may be, it didn't
seem like a natural way to process them.
3
Gricean Interpretation
The interpretation of 'miracle' under the scope of the maxims would be
unsatisfactory because A would have to find implicatures from the word.
Relevance Theory Interpretation
An RT interpretation would view the use of 'miracle' as a successful summation of
A's proposition, as well as past occurrences similar to it.

Geoff Cavanough
4.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Contradictories
Contradictories
Contraries
Subcontraries
Contraries

5.
a
b
c
d
e

pq
TF
FF
TT
FT
FF

pq
F
T
T
F
F

6.
d Dante is the greatest poet
m Marlowe died in a brawl
s Shakespeare is the greatest poet

b The best poets die young

o OHara was run over by a dune buggy
c Coleridge died happy

(i) If the best poets die young then Coleridge died happy.

(x) bx cx
(ii) If Dante is the greatest poet then Shakespeare isnt.

(x) dx sx
(iii) If Marlowe didnt die in a brawl then OHara was run over by a dune-buggy.

(x) mx ox
(iv) If Coleridge didnt die happy then either Shakespeare or Dante is the greatest
poet.

(x) cx (sx dx)

(v) If OHara wasnt run over by a dune buggy then either Dante is not the greatest
poet or if Marlowe died in a brawl then the best poets die young.

(x) ox (dx (mx bx))