A. Define and explain the following concepts. Use examples from the plays analyzed in class.

ENTAILMENT: it is a logical concept that relates to the utterance rather than to the speaker. ‘’If
A, then B’’ meaning that if A is true, then B must necessarily be true. There cannot be any
context in the real world where if the first assertion is true the second one is not. So,
entailment refers to the meanings inherent in the structure of what we say. Eg.‘’He assassined
John Kennedy’’ entails that John Kennedy is dead.

PRESUPPOSITION: the truth of an utterance is taken for granted in discourse. The difference
between entailment ans presupposition can be seen if we negate the sentence. Eg. ‘’He did not
assassinate John Kennedy’’

IMPLICATURE: it refers to what is said/suggested in an utterance.

B. conventional implicature vs conversational implicature

A CONVENTIONAL IMPLICATURE is a type of pragmatic presupposition and is realised through

the use of particular lexical items.

For example, in page 12 from FUN AND GAMES when ‘’MARTHA: She tries top ut her lipstick
on, but she can’t… and she gets it all over the face’’

A CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE arises out of the pragmatic behaviour of speakers. Grice

postulates a number of commonly held assumptions shared by participants in a conversation,
where the speakers voluntarily flouts, or violates one of the maxims in the maxims of
conversation.

For example, in page 225, when ‘’WOMAN: We had been to a party. Given by the Doughtys.
You had known his wife. (…) Later we found your car. You drove me.’’ She floats the maxim of
quantity, because she makes her contribution more informative than required.