LING 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Implicature
Document Summary
Reference: meaning of the parts dominique bought avocados refers to the set of people who bought avocados. Dominique bought avocados refers to a state of affairs in which dom is a member of the set of people who bought avocados. Truth value: this sentence is true if this state of affairs hold. Negative polarity items (npi): e. g. at all, ever, any. Implicature: an inference that is made, not just on the basis of the content expressed, but by virtue of the fact that the hearer thinks the speaker: is trying to make communication as effective as possible. Because inferences are based on assumptions, they can be wrong.
