A Princely Implicature

Speranza From "Diamond Jubilee celebrations: Queen 'touched' by 'happy atmosphere'" by NBC News and msnbc.com staff at http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/05/12062377-diamond-jubilee-celebrations-queen-touched-by-happy-atmosphere?lite "In a tribute to his mother delivered from the concert stage late on Monday, Charles sought to sum up public affection for a monarch who is a symbol of stability at a time of economic gloom and political disillusionment." ""As a nation this is our opportunity to thank you and my father for always being there for us, for inspiring us with your selfless duty and service and for making us proud to be British, proud at a time when I know how many of our fellow countrymen are suffering such hardship and difficulties," he said." But what did he implicate? This concerns Geach's and Altham's idea of pleonetetic quantifier. Compare, to use Grice's example in WoW (of conversational hyperbole): Every nice girl loves a sailor. Cfr. Many nice girls love a sailor. All nice girls love a sailor. MOST nice girls love a sailor. FEW nice girls love a sailor. Etc. Now: consider Prince Charles's implicature: As a nation this is our opportunity to thank you and my father for always being there for us, for inspiring us with your selfless duty and service and for making us proud to be British, proud at a time when I know how many of our fellow countrymen are suffering such hardship and difficulties. ---- Consider the 'cognitive' clause: "at a time when I know how many [English]men are suffering difficulties" To simplify: i. This is a time when I know how many Englishmen are suffering a lot of difficulties. Actually, the idea is to relate this to 'pride': ii. The Queen makes us pride to be [English], proud at a time when [Prince Charles knows] how many [English]men are suffering [a lot of] difficulties. The issue is: iii. How many? Consider: A: I know how many balls there are in the room. B: How many? A: Two. B: Two balls are _not_ *that* many balls. A: I never said there were _many_ (let alone 'that many') balls. I only said I knew how many balls there were in the room. Mutatis mutandis, via implicature, with the number of Englishmen that Prince Charles knows are suffering great difficulties. And so on. Further pleonetetic implicatures, at the Grice Club. Cheers. And God save her.