Abstract
In this chapter, I am concerned with the explanation of scalar implicatures; specifically, with the question whether scalar implicatures should be explained in the pragmatics or in the semantics of a sentence.* In this discussion, I use the terms implicative and scalar implicative simply as labels for a certain range of facts. Grice (1967, 1975, 1989) introduced the term implkature for a variety of cancellable inferences and simultaneously suggested an explanation of implicatures on the basis of his maxims — a pragmatic explanation. Horn (1972) extended this type of account to scalar implicatures. However, many in the field (e.g., Levin-son 2000; Chierchia 2004) have already used Grice’s and Horn’s terms as descriptive labels for a range of phenomena, without committing to a specific explanation, as I will in the following.
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Sauerland, U. (2014). Intermediate Scalar Implicatures. 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_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137333285_4
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