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Some Remarks on the Scalar Implicatures Debate

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Pragmatics, Semantics and the Case of Scalar Implicatures

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Pragmatics, Language and Cognition ((PSPLC))

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to provide a discussion forum for participants in the recent scalar implicatures debate. The bulk of contributions are formal, except for two. Larry Horn’s chapter, which opens the book, provides an interesting and remarkably documented investigation on the phenomenon’s historic development, evoking proto-pragmatic accounts of De Morgan and Mill, and even extending discussion to Grice’s manner maxim. An experimental chapter is contributed by Alexandre Cr em er s and Emmanuel Chemla. In their study, they focus on the processing cost involved in the derivation of both direct (that is, from some to not all) and indirect (that is, from not all to some) scalar implicatures, and argue that the very same processing signature generalizes to all subclasses of the phenomenon. Based on their findings, Lhey also provide a useful discussion on how to compare scalar implicatures with other kinds of inferences and on how to identify the subprocesses responsible for the processing cost of scalar implicatures. Within the formal contributions is a really useful survey, written by Michael Franke and Gerhard Jäger, of game theoretic models that captures, what they call, pragmatic back-and-forth reasoning about mutual beliefs and linguistic behavior. This contribution is a worthwhile read for those with no immediate interest in the scalar implicatures debate (for game theoretic discussion may provide useful insights to understanding the mechanisms behind a number of linguistic phenomena) as well as those researchers who are involved (for, from a pragmatic perspective, a rigorous theory of communicative rationality is needed to throw some light on the Gricean project on communication).

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Authors
  1. Salvatore Pistoia Reda
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali Politiche e Cognitive, Università di Siena 1240, Italy

    Salvatore Pistoia Reda (DAAD Visiting fellow) (DAAD Visiting fellow)

  2. Zentrum für Allegmeine Sprachwissenschaft, Germany

    Salvatore Pistoia Reda (DAAD Visiting fellow) (DAAD Visiting fellow)

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© 2014 Salvatore Pistoia Reda

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Reda, S.P. (2014). Some Remarks on the Scalar Implicatures Debate. In: Reda, S.P. (eds) Pragmatics, Semantics and the Case of Scalar Implicatures. Palgrave Studies in Pragmatics, Language and Cognition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137333285_1

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