The Cooperative Principles and Politeness

Chapter 6
The
Cooperative
Principle and
Politeness
 Table of Contents

The
01 Cooperative 02 Implicature
Principles

Flouting the
03 04 Hedges
maxims
SITUATION
 01
The
Cooperativ
e Principle
 H. P.
Grice
In Grice’s paper, ‘Logic and conversation’
(1975), he argued that in order for a person to
interpret what someone else says, some kind of
cooperative principle is assumed to be in
operation.
 The Cooperative Principle
The Cooperative Principle, proposed by Grice, maintains that
people follow a pattern in conversation:

– i.e. There is a set of principles which direct us to a particular

interpretation of what is said.
 Specifically, the cooperative principle says
…
We should aim to make our conversational contribution:
1. Such as is 3. By the accepted
2. At the stage at which
required purpose or direction of
it occurs
the exchange
What needs to be said At appropriate point in the They have reason for saying
interaction what they say
Grice based his cooperative principle on four sub-principles he
called MAXIMS

02
01 Quantity 04
Quality Manner

03
Relation
 QUALITY MAXIM
 Do not say what you believe to be false.
 Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Peter, Do you Yes, It’s in

know where Ha Vietnam.
Long Bay is?
 QUANTITY MAXIM
 Make your contribution as informative as is required
 Do not make your contribution more informative than is required

What It’s 12
time is o’clock.
it?
 RELATION MAXIM
 Be relevant.

How do you like

I’d like it your steak?
mid-done
 MANNER MAXIM
 Avoid obscurity of expression
 Avoid ambiguity
 Be brief
 Be orderly

Your phone? Do you know

using phones a lot can Do you know where
damage your brain. my phone is?
 02
Implicature
 Definitio
n
 Implicature: The term “Implicature” accounts for what a speaker can
imply, suggest or mean, as distinct from what the speaker literally says.
(Grice,1975).
Conversational Implicature:

 Derives from the cooperative principle of

conversation
 A number of maxims expected to be followed
by participants in a speech event.
 Conversational
Implicature
 It arises from:
1.The literal meaning of what the speaker said.
2.The cooperative principles and its maxims.
3.The linguistic and the non-linguistic context.
4.Background Knowledge and knowledge of the world
 Example

A: Did you see my wedding pig run over here?

B: I haven't seen a pig run past here since I put on this new outfit.

The maxim flouted in this conversation:

Quantity

 The implied content of this is: Both A and

B are like to brag.
 03
Flouting the
maxims
 Flouting the maxims
Flouting the Flouting the quality
quantity maxim maxim

Flouting the maxim Flouting the maxim

of relation of manner
Flouting the maxim of quantity

Happens when Flouting of the

speaker gives too maxim of quantity is
little or much a situation when a
information. speaker gives more
or less information
than the situation
requires.
 Example
Liz, Can I have John’s
number? Yes.

In a case such as this, one

might infer that Liz doesn’t Deliberate and
have the number with her and apparent violation
will supply it later. of maxim is called
‘flouting’.
Flouting the maxim of
quality
Happens when an utterance cannot be
interpreted in literal.

Flouting of the maxim of quality is not literally true,

but not is likely to mislead hearers because of the
context of use in utterance.
 Example
I think there’s one
Where’s the nearest round the corner, but
supermarket? I’m not from these
parts.

In this case, The woman's

answer doesn’t refer to his
Deliberate and apparent
question, the man still doesn’t
violation of maxim is
know the way to the
called ‘flouting’.
supermarket.
Flouting the maxim of relevance

1 The speakers are required to be relevant

in saying something.

2 The speakers are expected to say something relevant

to what is said before.
 Example
He is a polite man Daniel, manager? is
and works on time. Morgan good as a
finance

In this case, one might infer

Morgan is not a good finance Deliberate and
manager. apparent violation
of maxim is called
‘flouting’.
 Flouting the maxim of manner
• Happens when a speaker says
something unclearly.

• Flouting of the maxim of manner

appears to obscure and tend to
ambiguity.
 What did Laura do when she
Example
heard that Lauri’s boat had Laura ran to the
arrived. pier and jumped.

In this situation, the woman

meant that Laura didn’t want Deliberate and
to see Lauri. apparent violation
of maxim is called
‘flouting’.
 04
Hedges
 Hedges
As well as exploiting the maxims by obvious flouting, speakers
may indicate that they are opting out
of a maxim by using a special kind of what are called hedges,
words or phrases telling hearers to
disregard one of the maxims
 Hedges
1. Hedges on 2. Hedges on
Quality Maxim Quantity Maxim

3. Hedges on 4. Hedges on Manner

Relevance Maxim Maxim
 Hedges on
Quality
Maxim
 The speaker’s uncertainty of the truth of his utterance
 The speaker’s emphasis on his commitment to the truth
 Disclamation of the speaker’s assertion in informing the hearer
 Example As far as I know, they
Are they married? have been married for
more than 10 years

In the example, the man is uncertain about whether they are married or
not. Thus, the phrase As far as I know helps the speaker to limit the exact
range of information. The information given is based on the knowledge of
the speaker.
Hedges on Quantity Maxim
Giving notice that
Indicating that
provided
the provided
information is more
information is
informative than
not complete or
might be
precise as might
expected
be expected
 Example
As I mentioned above, our
company's revenue has decreased
significantly in the last 4 years...

In the example, “as I mentioned above” was hedges on quantity maxim .The speakers
well knew that in order to achieve high effectivity in communication, they should not
say more than what was necessary. The information here had been mentioned and the
repetition aimed at a certain purpose.
Hedges on Relevance Maxim
Preparatory condition for not shocking
1 the hearer when the speaker changes
the topic

2 The speaker’s uncertainty

of the relevance of the utterance
 Example
Ex.1: Not to change the subject, but how much do we need to pay for
the airplane ticket?

Ex.2: “Oh, by the way, can you grab me some orange juice? ”

In these examples, the speakers used the phases ‘Not to change

the subject’ and ‘by the way’ to drift into another topic without
causing confusion for the listener.
Hedges on Manner Maxim

01 Making communicative
intentions explicit

The speaker’s query whether the hearer

02 is following the speaker’s discourse
adequately
.
Example
Ex.1: I mean, that’s just an amazingly short term for a subscription
service.
Ex.2: So it wasn’t even about how many takes was that, it was just
like, let’s experiment, you know what I mean?

In the example 1, the speaker used the phrase ‘ I mean’

when making the conversation clear and avoiding
ambiguity

In the example 2, the speaker wanted to ask whether the

hearers were following their discourse adequately
Thank you
for your
attention!