ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the central pragmatic notion of conversational implicature proposed by Grice and understood as any meaning a speaker conveys beyond the literal, semantic, or ‘conventional’ meaning of the words uttered. First, the key distinctions Grice made between saying, meaning, and implicating are sketched. Then, Grice’s theory of conversational implicature, with its component maxims and overarching Cooperative Principle, is outlined. The features and types of conversational implicature comprising Grice’s model are subsequently identified and illustrated via representative examples from Spanish, thus demonstrating the model’s applicability to the analysis of Spanish speaker meaning. A second class of implicated meaning, which Grice dubbed “conventional implicature,” is then defined and discussed along with some debates this notion generated. Afterwards, criticisms and misconceptions surrounding Gricean theory are pinpointed. Subsequently, I present two neo-Gricean theories, one proposed by Horn and another by Levinson, both of which constitute significant attempts to revise and improve Grice’s original model. Various studies on Spanish speakers’ meaning using Gricean concepts and frameworks are reviewed, and then some methodological issues associated with Gricean pragmatics are discussed. Finally, suggestions and directions for future research implementing the notion of implicature and neo-Gricean theory are offered with the aim of better accounting for speaker meaning in Spanish.
