Implicatures, Entailments, and Presuppositions

How do we puzzle out what meanings lie beyond our sentences? What different flavours of extra meanings are there? In this week's episode, we talk about implicatures, entailments, and presuppositions: how to define them, what the differences are between them, and how they enrich our understanding of the world.
This is Topic #34!
This week's tag language: Hindi!
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Sources:
The 2003 study cited is:
Papafragou, A. & J. Musolino, (2003). Scalar implicatures: experiments at the syntax-semantics interface. Cognition 86, 253-282.
It mostly is focused on how kids deal with these sentences, but we used the control group for our purposes.
Looking forward to next week!

[@franzi8678]

Thank you for making these terms finally make a little more sense to me! Looking forward to my exam tomorrow.

[@amandaalifia718]

I love that you make "Sherlock" as analogy/examples! So cool!

[@thelingspace]

+Amanda Alifia Thanks! That was a pretty fun one to run with. Glad you liked it. ^_^

[@Mary-xc9dh]

I am always sharing these with my fellow linguistic classmates. We love them! As a librarian I am always re-watchinv just to browse your book shelf. Great choices. Now I can't decide if I want to re-watch Sherlock or to pop TNG back into the DVD player....

[@alicelandson3280]

Nice video! That's exactly what we are learning in Linguistics right now! Thanks!

[@thelingspace]

Alice Landson Thanks! Glad you liked it. ^_^

[@darubackup]

I love how he casually predicted the plot of season 4 by saying "Sherlock does not have a sister".

[@antonellafernandez1070]

You explain in such an easy way! THANK YOU A LOOOT !!!!

[@marijastrahinjic8273]

Honestly, I am not particularly interested in Pragmatics, but I have an exam for which I need to understand these bits. I would like to thank you for the useful explanation that you provided, because it made the whole topic kind of fun. Thus it it easier to learn. Thanks a bunch!

[@thelingspace]

+Maria Milica Great! Really glad to have been able to help out. I think presenting stuff in a fun way makes it easier to pick up, and so that's what we aim for. Glad to be of help. ^_^

[@marijastrahinjic8273]

+The Ling Space For what it's worth, I did an excellent job at the exam. :)

[@thelingspace]

+Maria Milica Awesome! Glad to hear it. ^^

[@alejandromarcello3612]

thanks very much. I'm studying for a test on discourse analysis. I complement readings with your videos. hugs from Argentina

[@PinnerSinner]

For those interested, the 2003 study on Scalar Implicatures was by Papafragou & Musolino. The rates of comprehension differ between children and adults, see Papafragou 2006 for a manipulation of task variables to test Relevance Theory.

[@paulfriday6055]

Hey guys! These are great videos. Simplified and informative. I am having an exam in two days and I have some troubles understanding the following exercise. Could you help me please? Identify the implicatures in the following exchanges. Are they the result of obeying or disobeying the maxims? Which maxim do they violate or obey? A: Do you love me? B: I am quite fond of you. A: Was there a fiddler at the bar last night? B: There was a man scraping a bow. A: My car’s broken down. B: There’s a garage around the corner.

[@jrjohannes1]

I'm really interested in these subtle areas of Human interaction/communication. Things like innuendos, understatements and overstatements where we say one literal thing but hide the underlying meaning. It seems like metaphors, analogies and contradictions belong under Context/Pragmatics because they are techniques we use. I'm not sure and very curious???

[@thelingspace]

+Jason Johannes Nope, I definitely think you're right! Language usage, once it's above the level of the sentences or the literal meaning of sentences, is usually a pragmatics / discourse matter. As I noted in the other reply, though, it does relate to other parts of the field as well, though. ^_^

[@Dioneira_]

I guess the last Sherlock season fixed your logic bot!

[@charron115]

This channel is awesome. Why? Because my professor doesnt break this stuff! Thank you once again.

[@verabernhard4368]

05:42 and then there was Enola... Great video!

[@a.filakiewicz2942]

"Sherlock desnt have a sister, so it cant be true that shes a dectective" "Hold my beer" says netflix.

[@rishabh5750]

lol nice, topical

[@stefanie-marie3799]

YESSS and there is Eurus too 😂😂

[@jiangy7434]

Hi, I was trying to an add translation subtitle for this video (just for fun maybe no need, google translation is going to do better than me before I finish this). I wonder what does "to boot" mean at 2:16 ? This is the first time I try to do such thing, if you think there's no need or if I need a permit to upload the subtitle, maybe you could tell me to stop before I finish it :)

[@TheMaYsSA2]

if only my Pragmatics Professor used Sherlock based examples life would be so much better

[@mohammadtahirhaand6544]

ling space helped me a lot. thank you

[@thelingspace]

Great! Glad to be able to help. Thanks for writing in. ^_^

[@fangholder3294]

I love how now Sherlock fans are telling that the sister is fake and you said that in 2k15. And thanks for teaching me for my final! :)

[@cathlewis6518]

so helpful!!!!!!! merci!

[@GregSanders]

Good to know that logicbot3000 is vulnerable to classic original series Star Trek counter-robotic methods.

[@thelingspace]

I mean, if they still were working a couple of hundred years from now, I doubt we'd have worked them out already, right?

[@hnufelka]

tysm! your explanations do rly help me a lot with my linguistic course at uni :D

[@user-hn7dn3gd1h]

Thank you for the video! Very clear and useful!

[@maizatulmuizzah7668]

Wow this video really help me a lots to understand implicature. What a nice video👍👍

[@jiritrojan9738]

What is the entailment of the utterance: Shall we send my roommate to the cinema? I know that PRESUPPOSITION would be: I have a roommate. And the sentence is implying that they ( reffering to 'we') want to be alone. I do not know if it has something to do with entailment. Can you help me?

[@FranziskaNagel445]

3 years later. Well this sentence entails sending the roommate out of the room.

[@JayFolipurba]

Awesome video! I feel educated. Also, by purposefully misusing these rules, we can create jokes, sarcasm and plays on words.

[@thelingspace]

JayFolipurba Thanks for the kind words! Glad you liked it. And yep, since a lot of humor is subverting expectations, and breaking the rules will definitely do that. ^_^

[@ALsanguine]

Such a very good explanation. Thanks! @the ling space

[@mayrawinan8166]

Thank you so much for making this video, it helps a lot!

[@anastasisstefas145]

Excellent videos indeed! I wonder if you could offer some insight into the 'inference' versus 'implicature' distinction. Is an inference (e.g. of multiplicity, of abundance etc.) necessarily an implicature? Thanks a lot The Ling Space :)

[@sarita9809]

LOVE ling space!

[@locoaps126]

Thanks a lot. It is really helpful, 'Phir Milenge'...

[@funnybuddy89]

but then what is the difference between entailment and implicatures?The differences was not very clear

[@thelingspace]

+funnybuddy89 So the main difference between the two is that with implicatures, you can be wrong, but with entailments, you can't. So consider a sentence like "John drove for three miles." An implicature from this was that he only drove three miles, and not, say, ten. "John drove for three miles" is logically consistent with it being 10 miles, but using the Maxim of Quantity, if you'd meant ten, you'd have said ten, not three. So we assume 3 is the exact number, but we could be wrong. And in fact, if we say "In fact, he drove ten miles," that's still okay - that's canceling the implicature. But on the other hand, for an entailment, it HAS to be true. If "John drove for three miles," then he must have driven a mile, and he must have done some driving. Those are things that are entailed: if the original sentence is true, those other propositions must also be true. You can't divide them up, and you can't cancel them. Hope this makes sense! ^_^

[@funnybuddy89]

Thank you! I do have a question about entailments, because you did not mention downward and upward entailments and what they are. Do you think you can sort of explain the difference and what they are and how to determine if a sentence is one or the other.

[@thelingspace]

+funnybuddy89 Sorry I missed this back before! But here you go, for a discussion of this. I put it over on our Tumblr, so other people could see it, too: thelingspace.tumblr.com/post/140652872814/entailments-in-two-directions ^_^

[@stefanie-marie3799]

Fantastic video! Thank you so much! I always confuse entailment and presupposition 🤭

[@teacherdkennedy]

I know that people with autism have trouble with inferences. Has anyone studied which of these types of inferences they have the most trouble with?

[@jrjohannes1]

In Literature, irony is classified as rhetoric. Is pragmatics the area of linguistics that deals with rhetorical devices?

[@thelingspace]

+Jason Johannes I'd say yes, although not exclusively! I think that the use of irony and when it gets deployed would definitely fall into pragmatics. But the ways that we signal that something is meant ironically, in terms of prosodic structure or syntax, would fall in those realms. But I think you're right: if you're looking at the interplay between language and discourse, that's pragmatics. ^_^

[@jrjohannes1]

+The Ling Space Thank you very much for your reply! This helps me.

[@katjaspannaus4643]

Brilliant, thank you very much!

[@rashshawn779]

This is ubeeerrr awesome!! I like

[@Alivath]

1. Thanks a lot for all of your videos 2. Could you please speak a little slower?^^ 3. Could you please speak in a lower pitch? It gets in the way of understanding the meaning of the words my students are listening + you´ll damage your vocal chords. 4. It´s awesome to find this kind of help. Thanks again!

[@infinitafenix3153]

2 and 3 should be some Gricean or whoever rules of speech, extremely important I think ;)

[@ismanabdullah3928]

Thank You So much for the material

[@thelingspace]

Thanks for watching! ^_^

[@hannahwilson6179]

you have saved my grade haha thanks!

[@thelingspace]

Glad to be able to help! Best of luck. ^_^

[@FilmLoveMusicLove]

Thank you so much for this video! So 'Both dogs are hungry' presupposes that there exists dogs?

[@aalllisson]

Yes, it presupposes that there are exactly two dogs.

[@desitotakay5716]

M looking for a topic for thesis on doing presupposition. Can anyone help me out for this. Plzzz

[@naqiyahlukman5347]

But Sherlock does have a sister hehe. (yes I know this was in 2015 before season 4 happened)

[@thelingspace]

If only we'd known! But then I guess we'd have been spoiling things. ^_^

[@anastasia1able]

Thank you

[@jamiemccartney1091]

I am cracking up about your shirt!!!

[@thelingspace]

Yeah, I do really like that one, too. ^_^

[@ataatayevv]

texts on the screen disappear very quickly even though you are talking 10 seconds afterwards, it's better better to read if you make them longer

[@aishawealiey6059]

Thank you for the video, it's really help me to do my paper for pragmatics, but I still couldn't get in Presupposition, could you make it more clear?

[@shejalshende6186]

बिलकुल मिलेंगे

[@sickcooldude]

bro this is sick

[@kamenpikachu1584]

Does logic bot speak lojban?

[@thelingspace]

Kamen Pikachu We've discussed it, and yeah, Logic Bot does speak Lojban. Thanks for the question! ^_^

[@mollyscaife-addinall3862]

amazing thank u

[@thelingspace]

Thanks for watching! ^_^

[@sonaannasiby4415]

"Phir milenge" means see you soon right?

[@louxavier2087]

first 0:20 seconds I like you already

[@m.s.k2951]

please slowwwwwwwwwwwww please slow down , I like your lectures but You are talking very quicklly and I cant ctch thirty percent of the words

[@robert_wigh]

Then might I suggest that you turn on the subtitles.

[@antonellafernandez1070]

I speak Spanish and I love when he talks fast. Thus, the video doesn´t become boring! xD

[@RagingRugbyst]

just slow down the video playback, duh

[@Francieli128]

Of course Sherlock has a sister.....Enola from Netflix :)

[@sonaannasiby4415]

Sherlock does have a sister Enola Holmes😆

[@samiraansari5686]

Wow, you‘re really cute. Also helpful, obviously, but mainly cute.

[@Dayglodaydreams]

Is this Gricean Ling Space? (Paul Grice). I have autism, I could....be closer to a logic bot. Maybe I'm just linguistic pragmatics-dumb.

[@azforthlol]

What if you made tea with a pot on the fire? Seems like a bad example.

[@zyaicob]

"Sherlock's sister is a detective" is in fact false if Sherlock has no sister

[@jeisianedasilvaoliveira2835]

Well apparently he does has a sister and she is in fact a detective. According to netflix hahahaha

[@educatedhadhramis]

Why are u in such hurry? I understand you 100%, but this way makes it difficult to catch up with you

[@sittingstill3578]

I’ve found that Japanese are really good at this but Koreans are surprisingly lacking. In cross cultural communication, understanding these implied ideas is key to ensuring understanding. If you can’t decide the implied ideas then it’s much more difficult resolving a misunderstanding. Japanese culture carefully plans and thinks out things to prevent errors and misunderstandings while Koreans do a lot of off the cuff. Both can cause frustration but the meta cognition is often more beneficial than the flexibility.

[@teacherdkennedy]

My favorite presupposition is "have you stopped beating your wife."

[@joeyjansa7726]

He tortured me!

[@sarimzafar7421]

Sherlock has a sister! :(

[@thelingspace]

Yeah, it's just that we made this before that episode aired. Not much to be done now... sorry!

[@jkscout]

Why isn't there a maxim of speed? Cause if there were, this guy is definitely flouting it.

[@rennRRR]

that would probably be the maxim of manner since it refers to the clarity of his speech but this was still a bit funny icl 😭😭😭

[@melaf.k6417]

But Sherlock does have a sister, would this change the outcome 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@dexterousyt4849]

Play the video at 0.75x , thank me latter

[@abdelkarimlaghram3428]

Y ou just loo fast we can not get all of what u r saying

[@thelingspace]

+mourad laghram Sorry! We do have the subtitles for all our videos, if that helps. And we'll keep trying to hone the production. Thanks for the comment!

[@ALsanguine]

That's L in the shelves :-D

[@tariqaljabiri1825]

Please speak slowly a little bit

[@Dodoomouse]

YOU CAN CHANGE THE SPEED OF THE VIDEO if he is talking too quick :)

[@jkscout]

if?

[@martasuarez1568]

Way too fast...were you in a hurry??

[@jkscout]

i know right

[@beenakhan9033]

Too fast to understand for a beginner.

[@abuzerozer4319]

I DID NOT FIGURE OUT AGAIN 😡😡😡

[@zarlashtkhan4141]

T Plz take a breath... 😕

[@victorytruss5081]

Can you talk a little slower

[@meganouellette764]

It's funny how you said that Sherlock doesn't have a sister. In the last episode in the latest series, we find out that Sherlock does have a sister.

[@thelingspace]

We really had no way to know in advance! Hopefully this doesn't date the episode too much. ^_^

[@duchadian3276]

Warning: SPOILERS You may want to change the Sherlock's sister example after last week's episode. :)

[@frankharr9466]

Spoiler alert?

[@serhansanli]

I am confused even more wtf are you talking about?

[@RajendraSingh-bh8zf]

After Grammar Nazi, now semantic Nazi

[@zyaicob]

"Sherlock's sister is a detective" is in fact false if Sherlock has no sister