Abstract:
Conversational implicature is concerned with what a speaker says and what he implicates or means. In other words, implicature can mean a new way of describing meaning. The idea of what is said cannot be restricted to a merely linguistic notion of logical form. It is a way in which relevance and successful communication can be achieved. In some speech acts, conversational implicature makes use of the conventional meaning of the words in a speech to determine what is implicated in helping to determine what is said. Contributors in a conversation are rational agents; that is, they obey a general principle of rationality known as the cooperative principle. The speaker must follow the maxims of conversation. A speaker can flout, opt out or observe any of the maxims in order to convey implicature. These maxims are flouted mostly in figures of speech such as metaphor which is an instance of ambiguity. This means that a speaker has kept back part of what he intends to say. The maxims of conversational implicature are quantity, quality, manner and relation. These were analysed and applied in the novels used in this study: A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah. The novels were then analysed as a conversation between the writer and his readers. The analysis revealed that the characters in the novels flouted or failed to observe some of the maxims in certain contexts. In the course of conversation, these characters revealed intentions contrary to what their ordinary speeches conveyed. The result of the analysis also showed that the writer has tried to create awareness as well as sensitize the reader through conversational implicature to discover his environment, the type of politics and governance carried out by those in government.
