Saying Less, Meaning More: Conversational Implicature in Langsa Market Interactions

Abstract

Conversational implicature plays a central role in everyday interactions, particularly in informal settings where meaning is negotiated through context, social relations, and interactional goals. Traditional markets provide a rich site for examining how speakers convey meaning indirectly while managing negotiation, politeness, and face. This study explores conversational implicature in buyer–seller interactions at Langsa traditional market using an interactional pragmatics perspective. Rather than treating implicature as a fixed rule-based phenomenon, the study views meaning as something collaboratively constructed through naturally occurring talk. Data were collected through audio-recorded market interactions between buyers and sellers during routine transactions and negotiations. Selected interactional excerpts were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively to examine how indirectness and implied meanings emerge, are interpreted, and are responded to in real-time interaction. The findings show that implicature in Langsa market interactions is closely tied to negotiation strategies, social positioning, and situational constraints such as price sensitivity and relational familiarity. Indirect expressions are frequently used to soften requests, signal dissatisfaction, suggest alternative prices, or maintain social harmony without explicit confrontation. These implicatures are not interpreted in isolation but are co-constructed through turn-taking, shared local knowledge, and immediate contextual cues. This study contributes to interactional pragmatics by highlighting how conversational implicature functions as a practical communicative resource in marketplace discourse.

Keywords: conversational implicature; interactional pragmatics; Langsa market; marketplace discourse; indirectness.