Implications
- Can't be identified unambiguously by examining a verbal statement.
For example: “Of course, it's difficult to change quickly and easily in your everyday life.” (It will be easy to change quickly and easily here in my office.)
- Are generated by the listener inferring, using their assumptions and world view.
- Are almost always processed and responded to unconsciously. Although they can be identified consciously, they can't be challenged in the same way that presuppositions can, because they do not exist in the statement. If a client were to say, “Are you saying that I can change quickly and easily here in your office?” it is easy to reply, “No, I only said that it is difficult to change quickly and easily in your everyday life, isn't that true?”
Summary: Implications are much subtler than presuppositions, they are generated actively by the listener's process of inference, they are typically processed entirely unconsciously, and they can't be challenged.
