Conversational Implicature in Women's Narratives from Al-Mustatraf fi Kull Fann Mustazraf by Al-Abshihi (D. 852 AH)

Abstract

This study examines conversational implicature in women’s dialogues as presented in Al-Mustaṭraf fī Kull Fannin Mustaẓraf by Shihab al-Din al-Abshihi, from a modern pragmatic perspective. The research is grounded in Grice’s conversational principles, particularly the Cooperative Principle with its four maxims, as well as the Politeness Principle as formulated by Lakoff. It focuses on instances of flouting these principles and the resulting pragmatic and semantic effects. The study aims to reveal the relationship between explicit meaning and implicit meaning in women’s dialogic discourse, and to demonstrate how implicated meanings are generated through the deliberate violation of pragmatic norms. Methodologically, the study adopts a descriptive–analytical pragmatic approach, analyzing selected samples of women’s dialogues and relating them to their contextual, social, and psychological settings. It further identifies the type of implicature resulting from the violation of each maxim of cooperation or politeness.

The study concludes with several key findings, most notably that women’s dialogues in al-Abshihi’s work do not rely on direct discourse but instead heavily employ conversational implicature as an effective pragmatic mechanism. The study ultimately concludes that women’s discourse in Al-Mustaṭraf constitutes a rich model for pragmatic application and underscores the importance of rereading classical Arabic texts through the lens of modern linguistics, given their deep communicative and semantic richness that extends beyond literal expression to implicit intent.