Conversational Implicature in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel

Abstract

In speech situations, the message a speaker wishes to convey is not always hinged on only the linguistic items that make up his or her utterance. Hence, the speaker’s intent sometimes differs from the linguistic items that make up his/ her utterance and this, if not sorted out, hinders effective communication. This intended meaning is referred to as implicature. With the application of the cooperative principle proposed by H.P Grice, this paper analyses the imlicature in the response to questions in the drama texts, The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka. The purposive sampling method of research was used. The findings of the study reveal that the speakers flout/violate the maxims of the cooperative principle and as such implicature is generated. The playwright’s themes, characterization and style are projected via the implicature . This shows that there are intended meanings in utterances which delay communication process and they can only be worked out using Grice’s theory of conversational implicature.