Speech Acts and Conversational Implicature

How speakers do things with words — and how meaning exceeds what is literally said.

Pragmatics studies meaning in context: what speakers communicate beyond the literal content of their words. At C2 level, mastery of pragmatics means understanding how German speakers use language to perform social actions, imply meanings, and navigate communicative intentions.

Two foundational concepts dominate this lesson: speech acts (what we do when we speak) and conversational implicature (what we communicate but do not say).

Speech Acts — Austin and Searle

Type	German Example	Illocutionary Force
Direct	Schließ die Tür!	Command (form matches function)
Indirect	Kannst du die Tür schließen?	Request (question form, directive force)
Assertion	Es ist kalt.	Complaint / indirect request
Promise	Ich werde kommen.	Commitment (first person, future)

Grice's Cooperative Principle — Four Maxims

Maxim	Requirement
Quantity	Say as much as needed — no more, no less
Quality	Say only what you believe to be true
Relation	Be relevant
Manner	Be clear, brief, and orderly

Implicature: When a speaker appears to violate a maxim, the hearer assumes cooperation and infers an implied meaning — the conversational implicature.

Scalar implicature: Asserting a weaker scalar term (einige, warm, möglich) implicates the stronger terms do not apply (alle, heiß, sicher).

C2 requirement: Analyse indirect speech acts and implicatures in authentic German discourse — spoken, written, and formal contexts.