McEvoy writes:
"The highest honour Bob Dylan could pay the Nobel Committee is to stay as far
away as possible and not make a speech. I think he was trying. But some people
wouldn't let it go. Frankly, I'm worried now. He's sending a speech."
No worries, as the Americans say (Dylan is American). It may be assumed that
the speech he "is sending," as McEvoy puts it, will have some structure, and
therefore, some implicatures. One possible format of the structure is
i. INTRODUCTION
GIST OF THE SPEECH: my gratitude
BY-THE-WAY: this or that on Dylan's ability to write lyrics
CONCLUSION (with repeated thanks).
It may have another structure. Since Dylan will not be present for his speech
(no, this is not an ontological contradiction), it might be argued that the
'implicature' is a meta-implicature, in that thre "I" in Dylan's speech will
NOT refer to the person who reads his speech, but to, well, Dylan. This may
pose a paradox to Kripke, but not a big one.
Each section in the structure of the speech triggers a special implicature. For
example, the implicature of the 'thank you' section is that he is PLEASED by
the receiving of the prize. This is an implicature in that a thank-you need NOT
always convey (as per an entailment) that one is pleased (cfr. 'thanks but no
thanks').
Note that the speech will be in English, but Swedish members of the Academy and
other members of the Swedish audience will be provided with simultaneous
translation, from the English to the Swedish. In this case, the implicatures
will be meta-meta-implicatures.
After the speech, Dylan is expecting an applause which is a thank-you to a
thank-you, again a meta-implicature: a meta-thank-you.
And it all will be embellished by a song.
Refreshments will be served.
R. S. V. P.
Cheers,
Speranza
