Explanation
An implicature is an inferred content suggested by an utterance without being literally asserted. Hearers combine wording with contextual knowledge and expectations about a purposeful conversational contribution. “Some applications have been reviewed” therefore often suggests that not all have been reviewed: under ordinary conditions, a speaker who knew the stronger statement to be true could have been more informative. Cancellability reveals the special status of the inference—“some, perhaps all” is not a semantic contradiction. The mechanism makes communication efficient while transferring part of the work of meaning to participants and to the assumptions they share.
Movement of thought
1. The wording supplies less than appears relevant to the conversational purpose. 2. Hearers provisionally assume a sufficiently cooperative contribution. 3. They compare what was said with stronger or otherwise salient alternatives. 4. Choice, context, and expectation yield an additional but cancellable inference. 5. The interpretation returns to the conversation and alters what counts as mutually understood.
Scientific use case
Experiments and corpus studies can test the contexts in which an implicature arises, how often it is cancelled, and how rapidly different groups calculate it. This helps separate conversational inference from semantic content and loose association.
Example
Asked whether a report is convincing, a colleague replies, “The typography is very careful.” The conspicuous omission of an assessment of the content suggests criticism without asserting it.
Counterexample
“Some, indeed all, applications have been reviewed” cancels the usual scalar implicature. A semantic entailment cannot be withdrawn in the same way: “He is a bachelor but is married” conflicts with lexical meaning.
Distinction
Distinguish implicature from presupposition, semantic entailment, and suggestion without a stable inferential basis. Implicatures are typically context-sensitive and cancellable; entailments are semantically bound, while presuppositions behave differently under negation.
Effect on thought and perception
Implicatures enlarge wording through jointly calculated meaning; they enable economy, irony, and politeness while increasing dependence on context and shared knowledge.
Resonance
The unsaid emerges as a response to the gap between the chosen formulation and the contribution that the conversation led participants to expect.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Implicature“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-PRA-0002. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-PRA-0002The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.
Historical background
Grice’s 1975 discussion separates what is said from what is implicated and distinguishes conversational from conventional implicatures. An answer can suggest more than its wording explicitly settles.
How conceptual history changes the analysis
State the inferred message separately from the explicit content. For conversational implicatures, test whether an added qualification could withdraw that message without contradicting what was said. Do not generalise that test to every kind of implication.
Additional example
Original example: “Will you join us for dinner?” — “I am working at seven.” This may suggest refusal. “But I will be with you at eight” cancels that suggestion without denying the work.
References for the historical section
- H. P. Grice: Logic and Conversation (1975). · Gedruckte S. 44–47 = PDF-Blätter 4–5.