Language,

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Lecture 8

• Language,
• Public Discourse
• And
• Critical Thinking

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Previously, we have looked at . . .

• Fallacies of Relevance
• and
• Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence
• This week we will look at these fallacies as they
  appear in our everyday lives
• Particularly in advertising

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For starters . . .

• Language and Public Discourse Advertising and
  Implicature

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Advertising

• A business in which language is used to persuade
  people to do things
• Buy a product or service
• Vote for someone
• Believe things, e.g.,
• that some corporation is trustworthy
• That some political philosophy will lead to
  prosperity
• That some religious denomination will lead to
  happiness
• Etc.

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In the case of advertisements,

• The consumer might reasonably require that the
  claims be true.
• What are the standards of truth in advertising?
• What should the standards of truth in advertising
  be?

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To answer these questions,

• Some linguistic concepts are necessary
• Entailment
• Implicature
• Conversational maxims

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Entailment

• John fried some fish.
• a entails b
• John cooked some fish.
• b does not entail a

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Entailment

• A logically valid inference
• If sentence X entails another sentence Y, then
  whenever X is true, Y must also be true.
• There is no situation where X is true and Y is
  false.
• Another example
• a) Ian drives a Corvette.
• b) Ian drives a car.
• a) entails b) but b) does not entail a)

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Implicature

• A. "Is that the phone?"
• "I'm in the tub."
• B. "Uncle Charlie is coming over for dinner."
• "Better lock up the liquor."
• C. "Do you know where Bill moved?"
• "Somewhere on the east coast."
• D. "How was your blind date?"
• "He had a nice pair of shoes."
• E. "Professor Smith is sure he'll get tenure."
• "And my pet turtle is sure it will win the
  Kentucky Derby."

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Implicature

• A sentence X implicates a sentence Y if
• X does not entail Y and
• The speaker is warranted in believing Y is true
  based on
• the meaning of X
• Grices Cooperative Principle

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Grices Cooperative Principle

• To describe in a systematic and consistent way
  how implicature works in conversation, Grice
  proposed the cooperative principle
• In conversations, participants cooperate with
  each other.
• They do this by observing the conversational
  maxims.

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Grices Four Conversational Maxims

• Quantity - contribution should be as informative
  as required
• Quality - contribution should not be false
• Relation - contribution should be relevant
• Manner - contribution should be direct

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Assumptions

• 1. We don't adhere to them strictly.
• 2. We interpret what we hear as if what we hear
  conforms to them.
• 3. Where maxim is violated, we draw
  implicatures.

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Violations

• Quantity -
• Letter of reference for a job in the high tech
  industry Bob speaks perfect English he doesn't
  smoke in the office and I have never heard him
  use foul language.
• Quality -
• "Reno is the capital of Nevada, isn't it?"
• "Yeah, and London is the capital of New Jersey."
• Relation -
• "What time is it?"
• "Well, the paper's already come."
• Manner -
• "Let's stop and get something to eat."
• "OK, but not at M-c-D-o-n-a-l-d-s."

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Practice

• What maxim is violated? What is the implicature
  raised?
• 1. "How did Jeff do on the test?"
• "Well, he wrote something down for every
  question.
• 2. "Do you know where Bill is?"
• "Well, he didn't meet me for lunch like he was
  supposed to."

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Back to Implicature

• Not everyone is going to come.
• Someone is going to come.
• Sentence a) implicates b) because
• Sentence a) does not entail sentence b).
• Sentence a) would still be true for the possible
  situation in which no one is going to come.
• Upon hearing a), the hearer is warranted in
  believing sentence b)
• Maxim of quantity make your contribution as
  informative as is required The speaker didnt
  say, No one is going to come.

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Practice

• Do the a) sentences entail the b) sentences?
• 1a) ABC filters remove bacteria from your
  drinking water.
• 1b) If you use ABC filters, your drinking water
  will be free of bacteria.
• 2a) I left because I wanted to.
• 2b) If I hadnt wanted to, I wouldnt have left.

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Answers

• No, though many people believe they do, i.e.,
  that sentences b) are true because sentences a)
  are true.
• Sentences a) DO implicate sentences b).

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Sentences 1a and 1b

• 1a) ABC filters remove bacteria from your
  drinking water.
• 1b) If you use ABC filters, your drinking water
  will be free of bacteria.
• Sentence 1a is a generic sentence.
• Generic sentences are generally taken to be very
  strong claims, since they are often used to
  express significant inductive generalizations.
• e.g., Gold is heavier than water. Dogs bark.
  etc.
• Bacteria can mean some bacteria (literal
  reading) or all bacteria (generic reading).
• Maxim of Relevance if the claim is to be
  relevant to your healthier drinking water enough
  to make you want to buy the filters, then only
  the generic reading is relevant.

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Sentences 2a and 2b

• 2a) I left because I wanted to.
• 2b) If I hadnt wanted to, wouldnt have left.
• The Maxim of Quantity is important here.
• If there were two reasons for the speakers
  leaving he wanted to and someone forced him to
  and the speaker only gave one, then he would
  not be as informative as required.
• Assuming then that he is adhering to the Maxim of
  Quantity, we are led to believe that his wanting
  to leave was the only reason for his leaving.

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Should advertisers be responsible only for what
their claims entail or should they also be
responsible for what they implicate?

• Advertisers are usually only held responsible for
  what their ads entail.
• Many readers of ads do not distinguish
  implicatures from logical entailments.
• Much of the art of advertising then revolves
  around formulating claims that implicate a lot
  but entail little.

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How to implicate a lot but entail little

• Leave out the than clause or prepositional phrase
  in the comparative construction
• Campbells Soup contains one third less salt
• The Maxim of Relevance leads readers to fill out
  the comparative with the most likely choices
• - than it used to have.
• - than its competitors soups.

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More Examples

• More people sleep on Sealy Posturpedic.
• Maytags are built to last longer and need fewer
  repairs.
• Do you want better food? Better service? How
  about better prices? Than youd better be at Big
  Bears Carriage Place grand opening this Saturday
  at seven a.m.
• Chevrolet - the cars more Americans depend on.
• Get the facts. Buick is better.

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How to implicate a lot but entail little

• The use of the fine print restriction
• - Fly anywhere in the world Delta goes
• Some restrictions apply.
• - Our UPS Next Day Air Letter. Guaranteed
  overnight delivery to any address coast to
  coast.
• See Air Service Guide for Guarantee Details.
• - Buick La Sabre is the most trouble-free
  American car.
• Based on a survey of owner related problems
  during the first 90 days of ownership.

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How to implicate a lot but entail little

• Use of idiomatic language
• An idiom is ambiguous between its literal and
  idiomatic readings.
• The audience tends to lean towards the stronger
  of the two (the idiomatic reading).
• - Mercedes-Benz, engineered like no other.
• - In one out of two American homes youll find
  Kenmore appliances.

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How to implicate a lot but entail little

• Qualify very strong claims with modal auxiliaries
  (can, could, might, may, etc.) or adverbs
• Dodge may be one of the most powerful cars in
  the world.
• Theres another way for new homeowners to save
  money the All State New House Discount. It could
  save you up to 15 on All State homeowners
  insurance.
• If you choose to finance or lease your new GMAC
  vehicle someplace other than GMAC, you might find
  yourself waiting in line instead of hugging one.
• Cling leaves clothes virtually static-free.

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Practice

• Whats the problem with these ad lines?
• - I used to have dandruff, so I tried Head
  Shoulders. Then I tried Selsun Blue. Blue is
  better.
• - STP reduced engine lifter wear up to 68
• Results may vary by type of car, oil, and
  driving.
• - Isnt it time you got your health on the right
  course? Now you can cut back on cholesterol, cut
  back on sodium, cut back on fat, and still love
  the food you eat because now theres new Right
  Course from Stouffers.
• - People from Ford County prefer Chevy trucks.

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Summary

• Making implicatures is a crucial part of
  linguistic communication
• Language users do not easily distinguish between
  the logical entailments of utterances and the
  implicatures drawn from these utterances.
• Because advertisers are usually only responsible
  for the logical entailments of their claims, they
  often craft their ads to impicate a lot but
  entail very little, so that their audience makes
  favorable, but false, implicatures.

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Group Work

• Examine ads you have in terms of how advertisers
  use
• Implicature (Lecture 8)
• Generic terms (ABC kills bacteria on contact.)
• Comparatives without than clause
• The use of the fine print restriction
• The use of idiomatic language
• Qualifying very strong claims with modal
  auxiliaries (can, could, might, may, etc.) or
  adverbs
• Sound symbolism (Lecture 5)
• Fallacies (Lectures 6 7)
• Any other devices (e.g., the use of images,
  color, layout, etc.)
• to make you want to buy.