A Grammar of Catalan Sign Language (LSC)

In the same way as conversational implicatures, conventional implicatures are independent of the truth-conditional meaning. Unlike conversational implicatures, though, conventional implicatures are not context dependent. They are detachable, but they cannot be calculated or canceled. Rather, they are entailed in the semantics of words or expressions. Some of the elements that trigger conventional implicatures are adverbials, connectives and conjunctions, implicative verbs, parentheticals, expressives, and some specific intonational contours. In what follows some examples of connectives, adverbials, and parentheticals are shown.

In LSC as well as in many other languages, the connective but triggers an implicature of contrast that cannot be cancelled. In the example below, the descriptive meaning is that Jordi is tall and Jordi is very bad playing basketball. The conventional implicature triggered by the connective but in this sentence is that being tall normally precludes being good at playing basketball. There is an implicature of contrast that cannot be canceled, since it would be pragmatically odd to say ‘Jordi is very tall but he’s very bad at playing basketball, and there is no contrast between being tall and good at basketball.’

 

 

jordi very-tall but basketball play very-bad.

‘Jordi is very tall but he’s very bad at playing basketball.’

   (© Giorgia Zorzi 2018. Reprinted with permission from Zorzi, 2018: 107)

 

Other examples of conventional implicatures in LSC are found in the use of some adverbials, like, for instance, even. In LSC even is expressed through the sign UNTIL, shown in the image below, articulated along with specific non-manual marking (backwards head tilt, brow raise, eyes wide open, and a mouth gesture).

 

Sign for ‘even’ in LSC (until)

 

In examples a-d below the adverbial even (until) is triggering the implicature that something is unlikely to happen.

 

 

                                                                       ht-b,re,we,mth

a)      ix_1pl(poss) group party success. until           anna come

‘The party was so successful. Even Anna showed up’

Implicature: It is unlikely that Anna shows up at a party.




                                                               ht-b,re,we,mth

b)      maths exam easy very-easy. until jordi ix3 pass.

      ‘The maths exam was so easy. Even Jordi passed!’

       Implicature: It is unlikely that Jordi passes a maths exam.

(© Alexandra Navarrete-González. Reprinted with permission from Navarrete-González, to appear)

 

 

 

                                                       ht-b,re,we,mth

c)      meeting fantastic. until person director come too.

      ‘The meeting went very well. Even the director attended!’

        Implicature: It is unlikely that the director attends a meeting. 

   

(© Alexandra Navarrete-González. Reprinted with permission from Navarrete-González, to appear)

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              ht-b,re,we,mth

d)      ix app very-good. documents modify allow. until ix_poss1 template can.

      ‘This app is very good. It allows you to modify the documents and you can even create your own template.’

        Implicature: It is unlikely that an app allows you to create your own templates.

(© Alexandra Navarrete-González. Reprinted with permission from Navarrete-González, to appear)

 

In LSC some syntactic structures, like nominal appositives or non-restrictive relative clauses, can also trigger conventional implicatures. In the example below the implicature triggered is that the directors of department in general do not work a lot.

 

 

 

 

rosa woman, director of department, ix work very-hard.

‘Rosa, the director of the department, works so hard.’