Implicature in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth
From a pragmatic perspective, this study investigates Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth by employing implicature. A theoretical survey is given and followed by an application on the two mentioned novels. Implicature is associated with the implicit meaning. It refers to the act of suggesting or implying one thing by saying something else. Violating the maxims of conversations demonstrates the intended meanings Wharton tries to communicate with her readers.
Key Words: pragmatics, implicature, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, maxim, politeness.
