Pragmatics

An assignment paper on: observance vs. non-observance of Grice’s conversational maxims.

Prepared by: Ahmed Salih

1- The maxim of quantity, where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much
information as is needed, and no more.

2- The maxim of quality, where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or
that is not supported by evidence.
3- The maxim of relation, where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the
discussion.
4- The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one
says, and where one avoids obscurity and ambiguity.

There are two options for people with regard to these maxims:

A- To observe the maxims: to follow or obey them. Grice points out the implicature can be generated
by observing the maxims. When the addresser is observing the maxims directly, he may expect the
addressee to make his inferences on the assumption that the addresser is following the maxims of
conversation.
Examples:

1- On the maxim of Quantity: 2- On the maxim of Quality:

A- Do you have the time? A- Where is Iraq?
B- Yes, it’s 9:30. B- Iraq is located in the Middle East, in
southwestern Asia.
The man contributes only as much information as is
required. The maxim is observed since B does not contribute
– Not excessive like “it’s 9:30 at night, Greenwich what he believes to be false and to be
Mean Time, 20 May 2009, …” unsubstantiated.
– Not inadequate like, “it’s night time”. –e.g. “It’s in Europe.”

4- On the maxim of Relation: 3- On the maxim of Manner:

A- (to a passerby): I am out of gas.
B- There is a gas station round the
corner.
A will assume that B obeyed the maxim of relation.
But B's answer is only relevant to A if the gas station
is open; so it has the implicature "The gas station is
open."
- He went to France and started
studying History there.
Here the speaker is trying to be orderly in the
presentation of the statement through using “and”
and this implicates temporal progression.

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 B- Non-observance of the Maxims: People may violate these maxims in actual communication,
sometimes even deliberately. For example, the speak wants to mislead the hearer, that is, to lie, or
the speaker does not possess the adequate amount of information he is expected to provide, or the
speaker simply does not want go on with the conversation. But such violation do not generate any
implicature in conversation. Only when a maxim is “flouted” to use Grice’s term, does
“conversational implicature” occur. Non- observance is of these types:

1- Violating the maxims

2- Flouting the maxims
3- Opting out the maxims

1- Violating the maxim:

To violate a maxim is to fail to observe it, but to do so inconspicuously, with the assumption that your
hearer won’t realize that the maxim is being violated. Violations of maxims are generally intended to
mislead.

Examples:

1- On the maxim of Quantity: 2- On the maxim of Quality:

On the telephone:
Ann: Liz, can I have John’s number? A- Where are you, Anon?
Liz: Yes. B- I am in my room.
Despite her positive answer, we find Liz’s behavior A- I am standing right in your room and
weird. Why? Because the Maxim is violated in that you’re NOT here!
less information is provided than is required (Liz B- Oops!
didn’t give her the number).
The maxim of quality is violated since B is saying
something that evidently he knows to be false.

3- On the maxim of Relation: 4- On the maxim of Manner:

 Teacher: Why didn’t you do your homework?
 Student: May I go and get some water? I’m so
thirsty.
In the above exchange, the student’s answer is by no
means relevant to the teacher’s question. One
reason for this answer can be the fact that the
student is trying to evade the interrogation posed by
the teacher.
Consider the difference between these two
utterances:
 Miss Sarah produced a series of sounds
corresponding closely to the score of a tune
from an opera.
 Miss Sara sang a tune from an opera.

In the first utterance, the speaker violates the

maxim of manner because he is not as brief and
clear as in the second.

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 2- Flouting the maxims:
To flout a maxim is also to violate it – but in this case the violation is so intentionally blatant that the hearer is
expected to be aware of the violation.
Examples:
1- On the maxim of Quantity:
Majid and Ali are talking on the phone:
• Ali: Where are you, Majid?
• Majid: I’m in my clothes.
Majid is flouting the maxim of quantity to be humorous.
Majid tells the truth because it is expected that people
are always in some clothes, yet he flouts the maxim of
quantity because the information is insufficient for Ali.
3- On the maxim of Relation:
 Bob: What were you and Anna talking about? You
were looking at me all the time!
 Marry: Oh, well… why don’t we go get something to
drink?
Marry answers Bob question with a suggestion in an
obvious attempt to evade it perhaps to avoid hurting
Bob’s feelings. Hence, she flouts the maxim of relevance.
As the rest of the conversation continues, one can notice
the reason for this flouting:
 Bob: Are you avoiding this conversation? There has
to be something going on about me! Why aren’t you
brave enough to tell me?
 Marry: Well, you know… they think that you are the
one who stole that money.
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2- On the maxim of Quality:
Teacher to a student who arrives late more than ten
minutes to the class meeting:
• Wow! You’re such a punctual fellow! Welcome to
the class.
• Student: Sorry sir! It won’t happen again.
It is obvious from what the teacher says that he is teasing
the student and his purpose is, by no means, praising him.
He exploits the maxim of quality (being truthful) to be
sarcastic.
4- On the maxim of Manner:
 Wife: Darling….. What’s the story with that new watch
on your wrist?
• Husband: Oh, this watch you’re talking about! I knew
it… I told my boss that my wife would be curious when
she sees it. Oh, honey you have no idea how much
they‘re satisfied with my performance, lately!
The husband would be better off if he told his wife from the
beginning of the conversation that his boss awarded him
a prize. However, he flouts the maxim of manner to
assure his wife that the watch was a gift from a person
that she also knew and there is no need for jealousy.
 3- Opting out the maxims:

To opt out of the maxims altogether is, in a sense, to refuse to play the game at all. If I’m trying to have an
argument with my husband and he responds by opening the newspaper and beginning to read, he has opted
out.

Examples:

Examples:

2- On the maxim of Quantity: 3- On the maxim of Quality:

An employee talking to a representative: Where is the car?

 That’s it. I will give you no more names of our
clients. I am not going to tell you where exactly it is.

4- On the maxim of Relation: 5- On the maxim of Manner:

Speaker A is speaking and suddenly B interrupts

him: I can’t clarify the situation more.

A- Weather pollution is dangerous for…

B- I am not going to talk about “weather pollution”
Screw it!