Grice on 'therefore'

by J. L. Speranza
-- for the Grice Club.


FOR THE RECORD, some results from Bach on 'conventional implicature' as per his online, "The myth of conventional implicature". As we have seen, Grice lists 'therefore', along with 'moreover', as projecting, or triggering a 'conventional' implicature. Bach provides some good testing involving what he calls 'oratio obliqua' (actually he calls it indirect quotation, but you kant quote me on that). What is interesting is that 'moreover' is listed by Bach, but 'threfore' is NOT, in his interesting taxonomy of a type of expressions. The absence of 'therefore' therefore strongly suggests that Bach does not think 'therefore' should therefore be included, therefore, in the list. Therefore some may disagree!

This adapted from:

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kbach/Myth.htm

then:

"Utterance modifiers, such as ‘moreover’, ‘now that you mention it’, and
‘in other words,’"

---- [and 'therefore'? JLS]

"are used for the benefit of an audience."


----

Bach's complete list -- "Types of Utterance Modifiers" -- being:

--- begin quoted text:

1. topicals: anyway, as for …, by the way, incidentally, in that regard, speaking of …, to change the subject, to digress for a moment, to get back to the subject, while we’re on the subject

2. positionals: first of all (secondly, etc.), next, finally, in conclusion, lastly, to sum up

3. additives: along the same lines, also, besides, by the same token, equally, furthermore, in addition, in fact, likewise, moreover, more specifically, not only that, on top of that, similarly, what is more

4. illustratives: by way of example, for example, for instance, for one thing, if I may illustrate, in particular, to illustrate, to show you what I mean

5. conclusives: accordingly, after all, all in all, all things considered, to conclude

6. concessives: although …, anyway, at any rate, be that as it may, even so, in any case/event, just the same, nevertheless, regardless, still, whatever

7. contrastives: but, conversely, however, in contrast, instead, on the other hand, rather, yet

8. formulationals: alternatively, as it were, briefly, crudely, in a nutshell, in a word, in effect, in other words, in plain words, in technical terms, metaphorically speaking, more precisely, so to speak, speaking loosely, strictly speaking, that is, to be specific, to change the analogy/ image/metaphor, to elaborate, to make a long story short, to oversimplify, to put it mildly, to put it more accurately, to use a cliché, without exaggeration, without going into detail

9. emphatics: above all, indeed, it cannot be overemphasized/stressed too much that, mark my words, most importantly, to say the least

10. veracitives: believe it or not, in all candor, frankly, seriously, to set the record straight, to tell (you) the truth, truthfully

11. secretives: between you and me, confidentially, if you don’t tell anybody, off the record

12. relationals: as your friend/doctor/mother (etc.), man to man, personally, since I’m your friend/doctor/mother (etc.), speaking as a friend

13. mitigatives: I don’t mean to interrupt/intrude but, I don’t mean to pressure you but, if I may interrupt, if it isn’t too much trouble, if you ask me, if you don’t mind, I’m no expert but, I’m sorry to have to ask you this but, it’s none of my business but, needless to say, since it would be easier for you, since you’re so forgetful, you’re entitled to your opinion but

14. explanatories: although I shouldn’t say anything, although it’s none of your business, before I forget, by way of explanation, for your information, if I remember correctly, if you really want to know, if you want my opinion, in case you don’t know, in case you haven’t heard, in case you’re interested, in case you’ve forgotten, just so you know, just to remind you, now that you mention it, since you’ll find out anyway, since you’re in a position to know, since you’re so smart

--- end quoted text.

Bach teaches philosophy -- and linguistics -- ? -- at San Francisco.