Conversations

Conversation are cooperative events:

Without cooperation, interaction would be
chaotic. Would be no reason to communicate
Grice's Maxims are minimal agreements needed
to interact
Need to cooperate to achieve goal of "getting
information"
Avoid certain conversational moves: i.e., lying,
deliberate confusion
 BASIC PRINCIPLE:
• "Make your conversational contribution such
as is required, at the stage at which it occurs,
by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchanged in which you are engaged."
• Must acknowledge purpose or direction or
it won't work
• i.e., ask a question requires an answer or it will
break down
• When a maxim is violated, meanings are affected.
IMPLICATURE
• Listeners search for an explanation to account for the
violation
• Violation illustrates:
– 1] that we take maxims seriously
– 2] that we can mean more than we actually say
 It’s how we can say things without really saying them
 syntactic and semantic rules are not enough to explain how
sentences convey meaning
 When violated we assume the person could have fulfilled maxim
but choose not to, hence look for a reason
 The maxim of QUANTITY
• Make your contribution
neither more nor less than is
required.
• a. Make your contribution as
informative as is required for
the current purposes of the
exchange.
• b. Do not make your
contribution more informative
than required
• Quantity: (e.g., Letter
of Recommendation):
• “Dear Sir, Mr. X's
command of English is
excellent, and his
attendance at tutorials
has been regular. Your
Sincerely”
 The maxim of QUALITY
• Try to make your
contribution one • Quality:
that is true • If you and I both
– a. Do not say what know X's job
you believe to be performance is
false terrible and I say "I
– b. Do not say that wish I had more
for which you lack workers like X."
adequate evidence
sarcasm perhaps
 The maxim of RELATION
• Be relevant • Relation: (pertinent to
context)
• Abrupt changes in
topics, for example,
We're gossiping about
a mutual friend and I
say, after a moment of
silence, "Nice
weather."
 The maxim of MANNER
• Manner:
• Using complicated
• Be perspicuous constructions when
simple ones will do
– a. Avoid obscurity
of expression • In describing a singers
performance:
– b. Avoid ambiguity
– a. "Miss X sang `Home on
– c. Be brief (avoid the Range'
unnecessary – b. "Miss X produced a
series of sounds that
prolixity) corresponded closely with
– d. Be orderly the score of `Home on the
Range'.
 ADDITIONAL MAXIMS
SUGGEST BY OTHERS:

• 1] Politeness maxim (Bach & Harnish)

– speaker must not be offensive, vulgar, rude, etc.
• 2] Morality maxim (Bach & Harnish)
– speaker doesn't repeat, ask for privileged
information, do thing "ought not to", etc.