Two essay questions, first must be 4-5 pages length, second one must be 3-4 pages length. regarding chinese history,

Problem Set 3

Linguistics 53

Due October 18, 2019

PROBLEM 1: BUILD-AN-IMPLICATURE

Part A Give an example of a sentence in a particular context that gives rise to a conversa- tional implicature. The example should be your own, not one discussed in section/class.

Part B Show that the implicature in question is indeed an implicature and not an entail- ment.

Part C Explain, as precisely as you can, how the implicature arises. Try to refer to con- versational maxims as much as is relevant.

PROBLEM 2: THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

Compare the conversations in (1) and (2), with background contexts in italics.

(1) Context: Visitors from another planet crash-land in Stevenson College in front of the linguistics department. Alien: Where are we? Stephanie: Earth.

(2) Context: Semantics 1 student asking their TA about course logistics. Student: Where is section going to be held today? Stephanie: Earth.

Although Stephanie’s response is identical in both situations, in (1), Stephanie seems to be obeying the Cooperative Principle, but in (2), she does not.

Part A Identify which Gricean maxim Stephanie is violating in (2), and explain briefly how she is doing so.

Part B Explain why in (1) Stephanie is not violating the maxim described in Part A, even though she is giving the same response as in (2).

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PROBLEM 3: BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Part A Generally speaking, a person who utters (3a) conversationally implicates (3b):

(3) a. I believe that it’s raining. b. I’m not 100% certain that it’s raining.

Explain, in terms of Gricean maxims, how this implicature arises. (Hint: Think about what a speaker might choose to say if they don’t intend to implicate (3b).)

Part B There is nothing strange in principle about a speaker saying that someone believes something that isn’t actually true. This can be seen in the fact that sentences like (4) and (5) are perfectly natural:

(4) The library is closed but Yuki doesn’t believe it.

(5) The library is closed, even though you don’t believe it.

And yet, (6) is ‘infelicitous’ (as indicated by #)–that is, generally speaking, it is some- thing very odd for someone to say.

(6) #The library is closed, but I don’t believe that it is closed.

Your task is to explain what makes (6) so odd. Your explanation does not need to be highly technical; focus instead on being as clear and precise as you can.

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