applying the Gricean maxims of Cooperation to conversations . an analysis

1. PRAGMATICS
MUQADDASZAKA
M. Phil (linguistics)
SEMESTER 2
NCBA&E

2. Tools Used by Media to Heighten the Comic
Effect: Analyzing the tv Series THE BIG BANG
THEORY

3. OUTLINE:
• Introduction
• Research question
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Analysis
• Conclusion
• References

4. INTRODUCTION:
• Comedy, type of drama or other art form the chief object of which, according to
modern notions, is to amuse. It is contrasted on the one hand with tragedy and on
the other with farce, burlesque, and other forms of humorous amusement.
• Media uses different tools and techniques to make comedies . These tools can be
identified if we look closely. The deeper we go the more we see .

5. RESEARCH QUESTION:
How the violation of the maxims of co operation is used
to CREATE the COMIC EFFECTS in tv series THE BIG
BANG THEORY ?

6. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Paul Grice suggested that conversation is based on a shared principle of
cooperation, something like: “Make your conversational contribution what is
required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of
the talk exchange in which you are engaged.” This principle was fleshed out in a
series of maxims.
• Maxims of Quantity
• Maxims of Quality
• Maxim of Relation
• Maxims of Manner

7. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Maxims of Quantity:
1. “Make your contribution as informative as required
2. “Don’t make your contribution more informative than is required
Maxims of Quality:
Be truthful.
Don’t say what you believe to be false
Don’t say what you lack the adequate evidence for.

8. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Maxim of Relation:
“Be relevant.”
Maxims of Manner:
“Be perspicuous.”
1. “Avoid obscurity of expression.”
2. “Avoid ambiguity.”
3. “Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).”
4. “Be orderly.”

9. METHODOLOGY:
• Qualitative research.
• A few clips of a comic series were chosen for the analysis:
• Tv series: THE BIG BANG THEORY
• Year: 2007 till date
• Clips : 2 video clips from season 1
• Source: Youtube

10. METHODOLOGY:
The maxims of cooperation given by Grice , were applied to the data , collected
, to see how the comic effects were created by violating those maxims in a
conversation.It is a tv series in which a few scientists are shown who know
nothing about the world outside. Penny a girl is introduced to them as a new
neighbor and the story develops .

11. VIDEO CLIP:1

12. DIALOGUES:
Sheldon: Penny, that’s where I sit.
Penny: You sit next to me(sweetly).
Sheldon: ( thinks for a while) No, I sit there.
Penny: What’s the difference?
Sheldon: What’s the difference(surprised by the question)?
Leonard: Here we go.(overlap)
Sheldon: "in the winter that seat is close enough to the radiator to remain warm, and yet not so close as
to cause perspiration. In the summer it's directly in the path of a cross breeze created by open windows
there, and there. It faces the television at an angle that is neither direct, thus discouraging
conversation, nor so far wide to create a parallax distortion.“( Penny confused)
Leonard: (to Penny)tell us about yourself.
Penny: I’m a Saggitarius ,which probably tells you way more than you need to know.
Sheldon: yes …it tells us that you participate in a mass cultural delusion the sun’s apparent position
relative to arbitrarily defined constellation at the time of your birth somehow effects your personality.
Penny: participate in what?

13. ANALYSIS:
1ST SEQUENCE:
The three characters are indulged in a conversation here in this video clip , i.e , two
boys and a girl named Penny( as is mentioned by one boy). The two boys know each
other while Penny is the unknown person yet . Penny is a guest which is proved by
how the boys are using the room .In real life situation as a guest you don’t just roam
around ,in the house of the host ,you sit at a particular place where you are told to.
The clip has two sequences , i.e , the one in which Sheldon tells Penny about his spot
on the sofa and the other one is ,in which Leonard tries to be friendly and asks Penny
about her.
Throughout the conversation , Sheldon’s utterances are the most important.
The responses made by Penny, are highly appropriate according to the quality,
quantity, manner and relevance. Penny tries her best to be a good guest and shows
politeness towards Sheldon with a smile on her face,

14. ANALYSIS:
• Sheldon’s utterances
• Sheldon is the character around whom the story of the tv series revolves . So whatever he
utters should be highly comic . Let us see how much he co operates in the conversation,
according to the Maxims of co operation.
• Quality: yes Sheldon said everything that he thought to be true.
• Quantity: Sheldon speaks way more than, what is required. Why would a guest want to know
about the benefits of sitting on a particular place ,in winters and summer. Sheldon violates
the maxim of quantity ,leaving Penny perplexed and unable to take the floor.
• Manner: not brief , ambiguous and obscurity of expression is there.
• Relevance: The dialogue of Sheldon about the spot becomes irrelevant because Penny is
unable to comprehend him .The information provided is not relevant in this context for a
guest who is just invited for a dinner . One must consider the social distance between him and
the listener . Here the relationship is that of a guest and a host . Sheldon should have
behaved kindly but the things turned out to be otherwise as Sheldon not only tells Penny that
she sat at a wrong place but also refused to sit next to her.

15. ANALYSIS:
• Leonard ‘s response :
• Throughout the first sequence Leonard speaks three words only , “ Here we go”,
without addressing anyone , but these three words have so many hidden meanings.
• Leonard knows about Sheldon’s fixation about his spot on the sofa .
• His dialogue shows his disgust for Sheldon’s nature of speaking much more than
what is required .
• His dialogue means that Sheldon has started speaking and now it is almost
impossible to stop him .

16. 2ND SEQUENCE:
• Leonard tries to be friendly and understanding the situation, and asks Penny to
share something about her .His utterance is appropriate because this is how we talk
to a stranger if we want to indulge in a conversation with them.
• Penny tells about herself by referring to her star of horoscope .In real life people do
judge us according to or stars so she expects the listeners to know about her .
• Once again Sheldon ‘s dialogue creates a comic effect . The utterance of Sheldon is a
bit rude , unkind ,ambiguous and way too long that it leaves Penny in an awkward
situation that she failed to understand him . The maxims of quantity ,manner and
relevance seem to be violated .

17. VIDEO CLIP:2

18. DIALOGUES:
• Amy: Penny ,a moment , do you have plans for this weekend?
• Penny: Oh Amy I’m pretty busy this weekend.
• Sheldon: I’ll be busy serving food that was ordered today.
• Amy: That’s too bad I was hoping you could be my plus 1 at the institute of
interdisciplinary study symposium on the current scientific research on the societal
interactions.
• Penny: The what?
• Leonard: Its an annual science conference we have all been invited to speak.

19. ANALYSIS:
• Amy speaks: A pre sequence is there .Amy asks Penny about her plans for the weekend
and penny knowing the up coming sequence says that she would be busy.
• Sheldon interferes (Sheldon’s utterance is difficult to comprehend because the knowledge
required to understand this sarcastic dialogue is missing).
• Amy takes the floor and speaks what she wanted to .Amy ‘s response to Penny’ refusal
also catches our attention because of:
• Quantity: violation. Amy speaks way too much ( it can be judged from the Leonard ‘s
dialogue ,who says the same thing but in a simple way that can be understood by a
layperson)
• Manner: violation . Highly ambiguous , obscurity of expression and not brief at all but
polite.
• Relevance: relevant.
• Quality: appropriate

20. ANALYSIS:
• Penny:
Penny ‘s utterance was appropriate , although she couldn’t make anything out of Amy
‘ utterance. A dispreferred response is also there on the part of Penny.
Quality: appropriate
Quantity: appropriate
Manner: polite and clear
Relevance: relevant
• Leonard:
Leonard speaks just to explain what Amy meant. His utterance is easy to comprehend
as compared to Amy’s .

21. INTERPRETATION:
• Analyzing the data it can be stated that there are many tools for creating a comic
effect in a conversation but in the given data the violation of Maxims of co operation is
frequently used as a tool.
• Sheldon and Amy seem to be a socially awkward people who do not know how to co
operate in a conversation and to let others speak. Sheldon and Amy are those who
know it all about science but lack the knowledge which is required to be socially
accepted .

22. CONCLUSION:
• It can be concluded that media uses many tools to heighten the comic
effects one of them can be , violating the maxim of quantity .i.e. saying
way more than what is required or saying too less ,to comprehend.
• Not only comedy the conversation they are involved in also shows their
social relationship .
• Uttering more than required quantity might lead to the perception
that the listener is a Dunce . It happens in The big bang theory a lot
and the worst sufferer is Penny who knows nothing about science .

23. CONCLUSION:
• In short comedy is not a science, it's art. Therefore there are no rules and it
can be very subjective. What one person finds funny another might cringe at.
• So there are many tools to create comic effects and they are almost impossible
to enumerate but what can be stated ,is that one of these tools is the violation
of the Maxims of Co operation while indulging in a conversation.

24. REFERENCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U00l2U6al4
http://www.thinctanc.co.uk/words/comedy.html

25. Thank you
&
Happy New Year