The Computation of Scalar Implicatures: Pragmatic, Lexical or Grammatical?
Article first published online: 2 JAN 2012
© 2012 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Language and Linguistics Compass
Volume 6, Issue 1, pages 36–49, January 2012
How to Cite
Sauerland, U. (2012), The Computation of Scalar Implicatures: Pragmatic, Lexical or Grammatical?. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6: 36–49. doi: 10.1002/lnc3.321
- Issue published online: 2 JAN 2012
- Article first published online: 2 JAN 2012
I provide an overview of four current theories of scalar implicature: the pragmatic (or Gricean), the lexical, a combined pragmatic + lexical, and the grammatical theory. The empirical focus are global and local, but also intermediate implicatures. I argue that the grammatical theory is conceptually less well motivated than even the pragmatic + lexical theory, and that the grammatical theory therefore requires strong empirical support. I then focus on a novel empirical phenomenon – intermediate implicatures – which provides empirical support for the grammatical theory. I conclude that it seems necessary to adopt the grammatical theory.