I've just done "-ure" in the OED & am surprised to find that it means a
"process" thing. I don't know about "ex-plicature" but I now see that Grice
was being very clever (his classical education at Clifton and Merton and
Corpus obviously helped) when he "coining" his 'term of art' (_Studies in
the Way of Words_, p.24), if coining you can call the combinature of an
existing stem like "implicate" ('He was implicated in the crime') with a
productive suffix like "-ure". So, an implicature is like an utterance, in
that there's an _essential_ reference to a process: the utterance
essentially relates to an utterer who utters something (see Grice's
'Meaning' -- _Studies_ repr., p.216-- for what he calls the process/product
'ambiguity' of 'utterance'). Similarly, then, the implicature (and the
explicature?) refers to the Implicator, as it were (or the Explicator).
Much fuss is then made, methinks, by people like Saul and Davis (as per
refs in my previous post) re whether it is the utterer ("express-or") who
implicates, or the utterance ("expression") (or the _sentence_, even) once
you see the essentially _process_-ish nature of the Gricean construct.
From the OED.
-ure (jU@(r)), a suffix, repr. F. -ure, L. -u¯ra (hence It., Sp., Pg.
-ura), occurring in many words of F. or L. origin. In L. -u¯ra primarily
denoted action or process, hence result of this, office, etc.; after
further development in F., the use was extended in Eng., and denoted action
or process, the result or product of this (e.g. enclosure, figure, picture,
scripture), function, state, rank, dignity, or office (e.g. judicature,
prefecture, prelature), a collective body (e.g. legislature), that by which
the action is effected (e.g. clausure, closure, ligature, nouriture), etc.
Many words were adopted from F. at an early date, as figure (a 1225-),
scripture (a 1300-), nouriture (c 1374-), censure, closure, investiture,
juncture, pressure, tonsure (1380-), fissure, scissure (c 1400-), etc.;
while a few others, as clausure (1398), plicature (1578), mercature (a
1620), aperture (1649-), were directly adapted from L. The suffix was also
added to Eng. stems of L. origin, giving composure (1599-), disposure
(1569-), exposure (1605-), or to true L. stems, whence vomiture (1598),
†beneplaciture (1662), ructure (1657-69), unigeniture (1659-); and was
further used with stems of Romance origin, as in †bankrupture (1617-22),
†disembogure (1653), †praisure (1622), and with native or other bases, as
in †clefture (1545, 1596), †raisure (1613, 1677), and wafture (1601-). To
this form various F. suffixes (as -eure, -ir, -or, -our) have been
assimilated in Eng., as in pleasure, soilure, †trap(p)ure (trapper sb.1),
treasure, velure.
"-ure, a suffix from L. -ura (hence It. -ura)
occurring in many words of L. origin.
In L. -ura primarily denoted action or ****process****,
hence result of this,"
Grice seems to prefer "implicatum" for "_result of this_", though, it seems
(Grice, p.24).
"office, etc.. The use was extended in Eng., and denoted action or
****process****, the result or product of this (e.g.
enclosure
figure
picture
scripture
"or function, state, rank, dignity, or office"
judicature,
prefecture
prelature
"or a collective body"
legislature
"or that by which the action is effected"
clausure
closure
ligature
nouriture
"or etc".
"Many words were adopted at an early date, as figure (a 1225-),
scripture (a 1300-), nouriture (c 1374-), censure, closure, investiture,
juncture, pressure, tonsure (1380-), fissure, scissure (c 1400-), etc.;
while a few others, as clausure (1398),
"plicature (1578),"
And I thought I was _joking_ when I mentioned in this FORUM the
"-plicatures" (of things)!
mercature (a
1620), aperture (1649-), were directly adapted from L. The suffix was also
added to Eng. stems of L. origin, giving composure (1599-), disposure
(1569-), exposure (1605-), or to true L. stems, whence vomiture (1598),
beneplaciture (1662), ructure (1657-69), unigeniture (1659-); and was
further used with stems of Romance origin, as in bankrupture (1617-22),
disembogure (1653), praisure (1622), and with native or other bases, as
in clefture (1545, 1596), raisure (1613, 1677), and wafture (1601-). To
this form various F. suffixes (as -eure, -ir, -or, -our) have been
assimilated in Eng., as in pleasure, soilure, †trap(p)ure (trapper sb.1),
treasure, velure.
===
==
J L Speranza, Esq
Country Town
St Michael's Hall Suite 5/8
Calle 58, No 611 Calle Arenales 2021
La Plata CP 1900 Recoleta CP 1124
Tel 541148241050 Tel 542214257817
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
http://www.netverk.com.ar/~jls/
jls@netverk.com.ar
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