IMPLICATURES IN NAPOLEON BONAPARTE’S LOVE LETTERS TO JOSÉPHINE: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study aims to identify the types of implicatures and analyze the contexts influencing the emergence of implicatures in Napoleon Bonaparte’s love letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais. The research employs a descriptive qualitative method within the framework of pragmatics, drawing on Grice’s theory of implicature (1975), Yule’s theory of context (2006), and Barbulet’s theory of context (2013). The data consist of thirty selected excerpts purposively taken from the compilation Napoleon’s Letters to Josephine, 1796–1812. The research procedures include data collection from the source book, classification of data based on types of implicatures, and data analysis using the relevant theories. The findings reveal that generalized conversational implicature is the most dominant type, accounting for 70% of the data, followed by particularized conversational implicature at 16.6% and conventional implicature at 13.3%. Regarding context, social context is found in 24 out of 30 data (80%) and physical context in 6 out of 30 data (20%), while linguistic context and shared knowledge context are not present. These results indicate that the meaning of implicatures in Napoleon’s letters is primarily shaped by the dynamics of his social relationship with Joséphine and, to a lesser extent, by physical context. Thus, Napoleon’s love letters are not only of historical and biographical value but also serve as a pragmatic object of study that reflects the complexity of interpersonal communication rich in implied meanings.