The Role of Inference in Diachronic Change in Conversational Implicature

This study conducts a case study of liǎnhóng (脸红) to examine how inference works in the diachronic change in conversational implicature. It proposes three types of inference, namely ad hoc inference, entrenched inference, and conventionalized inference, with each contributing distinctively to semantic change. The findings reveal that inference is not principle-governed, but can be triggered by cognitive processes; conventions and context play distinct roles at different inferential stages; three types of inference derive different types of meanings within the inferential process, with ad hoc inference generating PCIs, entrenched inference converting PCIs into GCIs, and conventionalized inference ultimately developing GCIs into new coded meanings. This study elucidates the roles that different types of inference play in the diachronic change in conversational implicature, further demonstrating the intrinsic interconnection among three types of inference through corpus-based diachronic evidence.