Conversational Implicature

Abstract

Speakers are often assumed to mean more than the literal sense of the words that they have spoken. For example, if I am in a café with a friend who is eating some cake with her coffee, and I comment that the cake looks really nice, my friend might respond by offering me some of her cake. By making this offer, my friend has shown that she thinks I was implying that I would like to try some of her cake. Since I did not actually say I wanted to try her cake, I could deny that I meant to imply this, either directly by saying something like “Oh, I didn't mean I want to try it” or indirectly by saying something like “Oh, I'm not hungry at the moment.” However, unless I make some sort of denial, then, what has been implied, in part due to my friend's response, is that I would like to try her cake. In lay terms this is considered a hint or implication that has arisen from what I have just said.