In order to function well, a language must be such that it allows a well behaved conversation, but many possess features incompatible with this principle.

Grice's Implicature and Literary Interpretation: Background and Preface Twentieth Annual Meeting Midwest Modern Language Association Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2-4 November 1978 Note: What follows is an old conference paper, photocopies of which originally circulated in 1978. I post it here in case it may still serve as an introduction to Grice. A vast literature has complicated the theory of ...