Linguistics

1. Cooperative principle
and
Coversational Maxims
Discourse Analysis
Level-7

2. Cooperation and Implicature
• When people talk with each other, they try to converse
smoothly and successfully. Cooperation is the basis of
successful conversations.
• The concept and the function of cooperation and
implicature are fundamentally linked. "This sense of
cooperation is simply one in which people having a
conversation are not normally assumed to be trying to
confuse, trick, or withhold relevant information from each
other" (Yule, 1996: 35).

3. • Cooperation can be understood as an essential factor
when speakers and listeners are interacting, in other words,
it is the expectation that the listener has towards the
speaker. The speaker is supposed to convey true
statements and say nothing more than what is required.
• Implicature can be considered as an additional conveyed
meaning (Yule,1996: 35). It is attained when a speaker
intends to communicate more than just what the words
mean. It is the speaker who communicates something via
implicatures and the listener recognizes those
communicated meaning via inference.

4. Conversational Implicatures
• There is a set of guidelines for effective and rational
use of language.
• Guidelines = a general cooperative principle + Four
maxims of conversation.
A General
Cooperative
Principle
Maxims of
Cooperative
Principle

5. Cooperative principle
• The idea that people cooperate with each other in
conversing is generalized by H. P Grice (1975) as the
cooperative principle.
• Grice says that when we communicate we assume, without
realizing it, that we, and the people we are talking to, will
be conversationally cooperative - we will cooperate to
achieve mutual conversational ends.

6. Grice formulated this Cooperative principle as follow:
“Make your conversational contribution such as is required,
at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged
“Grice, 1989: 26).
Specifically, there are four maxims under this general
principle.

7. Maxims of Cooperative Principle
• Grice identified the Cooperative Principle as a ‘super
principle’ or a ‘supreme principle’ (1989) that he
generalized from four conversational ‘maxims’ he claimed
discourse participants ordinarily follow.
• Grice(1989: 28) identifies the maxims as:
1- Quality 3- Manner
2- Quantity 4- Relation

8. 1. The Maxim of Quality
Try to make your contribution one that is true:
A. Do not say what you believe to be false.
B. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence (Say
what you believe to be true)
2. The Maxim of Quantity
A. make your contribution as informative as is required (for
the current purpose of the exchange)
B. Do not make your contribution more informative than is
required.

9. 3- The Maxim of Relation
A. Be relevant to the point
B. Context should be maintained not outside information.
4-The Maxim of Manner
A. Be perspicuous:.
B. Avoid obscurity of expression.
C. Avoid ambiguity.
D. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
F. Be orderly

10. Example
Clear fulfillment of these maxims may be demonstrated in the
following exchange:
 Husband: Where are the car keys?
 Wife: They ‘re on the table in the hall.
The wife has answered clearly (manner) and truthfully
(Quality), has given just the right amount of information
(Quantity) and has directly addressed her husband’s goal in
asking the question (Relation) She ahs said precisely what
she meant, no more and no less.

11. Violation of Maxims
Violation, according to Grice, takes place when
speakers intentionally refrain to apply certain maxims
in their conversation to cause misunderstanding on
their participants’ part or to achieve some other
purposes.
A speaker can choose to:
• Violate – be intentionally misleading
• Opt-out – refuse to co-operate
• Flout – be intentionally ironic

12. Conclusion
To conclude, Grice’s cooperative principle is meant to
specify rules ( maxims) that should be followed by
speakers in a conversation in order to achieve
cooperation.
Violating any of the maxims of cooperative principle is
called the conversational implicature or indirect
communication.