CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE AMONG STUDENTS

Abstract

This study examines the use of conversational implicature among the students of Federal University Otuoke in Bayelsa State with a view to understanding how students apply conversational implicature in conveying meaning, to ascertain the functions of conversational implicature among students and to evaluate the comprehension level of participants in a discourse engaging the use of conversational implicature. The study employs a survey design with students of Federal University Otuoke as the population of the study using purposive sampling. Data were elicited through nonparticipant observation. This is suitable so that there will be no interference as the data represent the true state of things in a natural environment. Qualitative method wasemployed to analyze the data. Grices (1975) maxim of implicature was applied as the theoretical framework that guided the study. It was found out amongst othersthat; students often use conversational implicature as a natural process in conversation. They use more of the particularized conversational implicature for amusement. They are also able to comprehend the implicatures used in different conversations. This shows that the use of conversational implicature is a natural process in language comprehension. The study recommends that students can engage in whichever form of conversation provided the interactants have background understanding of the topic of discourse.