Arrangements of conversational implicature diagnostics

The question of properties and diagnostics for Gricean (1975) conversational implicature is a complex one, and it has been the subject of ongoing debate since the 1970s. At present, there is often a tendency for researchers to assume that the question has been answered decidedly and to move forward in further analyses without acknowledgment that it is in fact very much still an open debate. In a recent article, for example, entitled “Manner Implicatures and How to Spot Them” (Rett 2020), it is assumed with very little discussion that conversational implicatures of Manner are distinguishable with the following set of diagnostics: calculability, reinforceability, discourse sensitivity to the ‘Question under Discussion,’ and embeddability. The article goes on to assume as well that this set of properties can pick out all conversational implicatures in general. In this present paper, I show that this assumption is not justified and that there are serious problems with the proposed diagnostic arrangement. It is suggested at the very least that the arrangement should be presented as a tentative or exploratory one—rather than a settled one—before then going on to make larger claims about the conversational implicature category. (University of North Texas)