QURTABA UNIVERSITY

Program: BS English
Semester: 4th
ID: 13735
Submitted By: BILIAL AFRIDI
Submitted To: MAM Laila

Question No 1: Give Examples of each maxim of

Cooperative Principal.

ANS: Cooperative Principle: In social science generally and linguistics

specifically, the cooperative principle describes how people achieve effective
conversational communication in common social situations—that is, how listeners
and speakers act cooperatively and mutually accept one another to be understood in
a particular way

The Cooperative Principle and the

Four Maxims of Conversation
The Cooperative Principle describes how people work together to communicate.
A core part of the Cooperative Principle is how speakers and listeners assume
what kind of knowledge each other has and what kind of language to used based
on that assumed information.

The Cooperative Principle is not prescriptive; instead it’s just a way to describe
and understand how communication often works.
The Cooperative Principle is broken down into four different maxims, called
Gricean maxims.

Maxim of quality
Supermaxim
Try to make your contribution one that is true.
Generally, when communicating, we have an assumption that each participant is
telling the truth.

Submaxims
• Do not say what you believe is false. Speakers will not intentionally lie.

• Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Speakers will only provide information that they can provide evidence for. That is,
they have a reason to provide the information they provide.

FOR EXAMPLE:
A: Should I buy my son this new sports car?
B: I don't know if that's such a good idea. He's totaled two cars since he got his
license last year. vs.
B: No, he seems like he'd be a bad driver.

Maxim of quantity
• Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current
conversation, purpose, or situation.
The speaker will provide all the information he or she knows to asker.

• Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

The speaker will not provide extra information that is not needed to complete the
current conversation, purpose, or situation.

FOR EXAMPLE:
A: Where is the post office?
B: Down the road, about 50 metres past the second left.
vs. B: Not
far.
Maxim of relation (or relevance)
Be relevant.
The speaker will only provide information that is related to the current situation.
For example, if asked a specific question such as “Do you know John’s phone
number,” the response would be related to something similar.

FOR EXAMPLE:

A: How are you doing in school?

B: Not too well, actually. I'm failing two of my classes. vs.
B: What fine weather we're having lately!

Example 2:
A:(Waving at B, who is driving a taxi) Taxi!
B:(Waving at A, who is walking along the side of the road) Pedestrian!

Maxim of manner
Supermaxim
Be perspicuous.
Submaxims
• Avoid obscurity of expression.
• Avoid ambiguity.
• Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
• Be orderly.

FOR EXAMPLE:
A: What did you think of that movie?
B: I liked the creative storyline. The ending was really a surprise! vs.
B: It was interestingly done, sir.

Question No 2: Give Examples of Politeness Principal.

ANS: A Definition of Politeness:

"What exactly is politeness? In one sense, all politeness can be viewed as

deviation from maximally efficient communication; as violations (in some sense)
of Grice’s (1975) conversational maxims [see cooperative principle]. To perform
an act other than in the most clear and efficient manner possible is to implicate
some degree of politeness on the part of the speaker. To request another to open
a window by saying “It’s warm in here” is to perform the request politely because
one did not use the most efficient means possible for performing this act (i.e.,
“Open the window”). . . .
"Politeness allows people to perform many inter-personally sensitive actions in a
nonthreatening or less threatening manner.
"There are an infinite number of ways in which people can be polite by
performing an act in a less than optimal manner, and Brown and Levinson’s
typology of five superstrategies is an attempt to capture some of these essential
differences."

Examples and Observations

1:"'Shut up!' is rude, even ruder than 'Keep quiet!' In the polite version, 'Do you
think you would mind keeping quiet: this is, after all, a library, and other people
are trying to concentrate,' everything in italics is extra. It is there to soften the
demand, giving an impersonal reason for the request, and avoiding the brutally
direct by the taking of trouble. Conventional grammar takes little account of such
strategies, even though we are all masters of both making and understanding the
signs that point to what is going on beneath the surface."

2:"Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets."

3:"Would you mind stepping aside? I got a purchase to make."

4:"'Sir,' the gentleman asked with a twang in his voice that was unmistakably
Southern, 'would it bother you terribly if I joined you?'"
5: "'Laurence,' said Caroline, 'I don't think I'm going to be much help to you at
Ladylees. I've had enough holiday-making. I'll stay for a couple of days but I want
to get back to London and do some work, actually. Sorry to change my mind but--'
6:"'Go to hell,' Laurence said. 'Kindly go to hell.'"

THANK YOU