Scalar implicature: a Saussurean system-based approach

•Associative sets are manifested as different subsystems of semantic relations.•Associative sets fall into two labels: ranked and non-ranked.•Scalar implicature is generated by the ranked associative sets.•Scalar implicature is one of the two types of associative implicatures.•The inference of associative implicatures is a convention-based reasoning process.

Scalar implicature is a cutting-edge issue in linguistic pragmatics. The study is intended to argue that, within Saussure's thought of language as a system, scalar implicature is manifested as the system-based meaning, i.e., it is generated by the language system. It maintains that the notion of “scalar implicature” as one type of “associative implicature” should be integrated into the coherent theoretical model formulated in this study, thereby also rescuing Horn's theory on scales.