This document discusses the cooperative principle and Grice's maxims of conversation. It provides definitions and examples of the cooperative principle, which describes how people achieve effective communication through cooperation. It outlines Grice's four maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner. Examples are given of conversations that follow the maxims through clear, truthful and relevant responses. Examples are also provided of conversations that violate the maxims through ambiguous, unrelated or insincere responses. The document analyzes conversations from the play Waiting for Godot in terms of compliance with and violations of Grice's maxims.

1. COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
GRICE’S MAXIMS
EXAMPLES FOLLOWING AND VIOLATING
GRICE MAXIMS

2. PRESENTED BY
SAIMA (03)
BS ENG (GFCW)

3. SUBMITTED TO: MA’AM HUMERA
SUBJECT: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENT: BS ENG 6TH SEMETER
DATED: 19TH MAY, 2019

4. Cooperative Principle
DEFINITION
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.

5. Paul Grice
•Grice’s aim was to understand how “speaker’s meaning” rises from
“sentence meaning” ( Speaker meaning = Sentence meaning + What is
implicated)
• Grice proposed that many aspects of “speaker’s meaning” result
from the assumption that the participants in a conversation are
cooperating in an attempt to reach mutual goals – or at least are
pretending to do so!
• Conversation is a cooperative behavior, and therefore proceeds by
rules of cooperative conduct.
• Grice called this the Cooperative Principle.

6. GRICE MAXIMS
• The cooperative principle has four sub-parts, four rules or maxims
that people involved in conversations tend to respect:
1.The maxim of quality
2.The maxim of quantity
3.The maxim of relevance
4.The maxim of manner

7. THE MAXIM OF QUANTITY
Governs the appropriate amount of information that someone makes
in conversation.
Make your contribution as much is required.
E.G:
A: What time will you work tomorrow?
B: I will work at 10:00 A.M.

8. MAXIM OF QUALITY
Governs truthfulness.
We should not say what we believe to be false or lack evidence.
E.G:
A: Why are you late?
B: My van came late today.

9. MAXIM OF MANNER
Avoid obscuring of expression
Avoid ambiguity
Be brief
Be coherent
E.G:
Where was the professor when class ended?
She often the class end went to her office.

10. MAXIM OF RELEVANCE
 Be relevant
Sperber and Wilson (researchers) have argued that this is the most
important maxim and subsumes the other maxims within it.
E.G:
A: How is the weather today?
B: It is a sunny day.

11. Flouting of a Maxim
• Gricean Maxims are not always obeyed and their violation or floating
bears more information than if they were obeyed (Darighgoftar &
Ghaffari, 2012). The flouting of a maxim can be defined as occasions
when one or several maxims are absent during communication
processes (Jia, 2008). For instance, telling a joke, writing a book and
making a movie are different situations in which CP can be flouted, to
surprise people so they burst into laughter (Jia, 2008), to better
develop the plot of the story (Mey, 2001), or to create a special
effect (Jia, 2008).

14. DIALOGUE
In this conversation, the psychotherapist will conduct the
consultation. The patient is a pretty middle-aged woman who seems
depressed and worried. The following consultation takes place at her
psychotherapy session.
 A: How are you mam?
 B: I’m fine. ( maxim of Quantity)
 A: Have a seat.
 B: Thanks. (maxim of manner)

15. • A: Hi Ma’am.
• B:Hi doctor
• A: Please have a seat.
• B: Thank you.
• A: Do you want to tell me about your problem.
• B: My problem is exactly what I have written in the form.( Quantity)
• A: Do you have any idea about the cause of your illness?
• B: What is your idea about the cause of my problem? ( Quantity and
quality)

16. • A: It is better to tell me about your age?
• B: What you have to do with my age? (quantity and relation)
• A: Are you married?
• B: Yes…It has been twenty three years.(Quantity)
• A: What kind of person is your mother.
• B: Well…She is a woman and she is my mother…. She is like other
woman(Quantity , quality , manner)
• A: OK, I understand what you mean it seems that it offends you.
• B: You are absolutely right.

17. CONT….
• A: Do you want to tell me about your problem?
• B: I have mental illness that is why I am depressed.
• A: Do you have any idea what is the cause of your illness?
• B: My son is in coma since one year. ( maxim of relation)
• A: It is better to tell me more about yourself. How old are you?
• B: Forty-nine. (maxim of quality)
• A: ok. The rest we will discuss tomorrow.
• B: Ok.

18. WAITING FOR GODOT
CHARACTERS SUMMARY
VLADIMIR
PROTAGONIST(POOR PEOPLE)
ESTRAGON
POZZO MASTER OF LUCKY
LUCKY SERVANT OF POZZO
BOY MESSENGER OF GODOT
GODOT AN UNSEEN PERSON

19. DIALOGUES FOLLOWING GRICE’S MAXIMS
• ESTRAGON:
• How long have you been here?
• BOY:
• A good while, Sir.
• VLADIMIR:
• You were afraid of the whip?
• BOY:
• Yes Sir.

20. Cont…..
• VLADIMIR:
• The roars?
• BOY:
• Yes Sir.
• VLADIMIR:
• The two big men.
• BOY:
• Yes Sir.

21. CONT…
• VLADIMIR:
• Do you know them?
• BOY:
• No Sir.
• VLADIMIR:
• Are you a native of these parts? (Silence.) Do you belong to
these parts?
• BOY:
• Yes Sir

22. CONT…
 The Boy has answered clearly(Manner) and
truthfully (Quality) , has given just the right
amount of information (Quantity) and has
directly addressed Estragon and Vladimir's
goal in asking the question(Relation) . He
has said precisely what he meant, no more
and no less.

23. • POZZO: How did you find me? [Vladimir and Estragon look at him
blankly.] Good? Fair? Middling? Poor? Positively bad?
• VLADIMIR: [First to understand] Oh, very good, very very good***.
• POZZO: [to Estragon] And you, sir?
• ESTRAGON: Oh, tray bong, tray tray tray bong.
DIALOGUES VIOLATING THE GRICE MAXIMS

24. CONT…
• MAXIM VIOLATED: QUALITY (Vladimir: Oh, very good, very very good
does not in fact mean Pozzo is really good). By saying something
untrue, Vladimir is implying that the opposite is true(sarcasm).

25. CONT…
Estragon: Do you remember the day I threw myself into the Rhone?
Vladimir: We were grape harvesting***.
Estragon: You fished me out.
Vladimir: That's all dead and buried.
Estragon: My clothes dried in the sun.
Vladimir: There's no good harking back on that. Come on***.

26. CONT…
• In this short conversation, Vladimir violates the maxim of quantity by
saying we were grape harvesting instead of saying that he remembers
the day. In the last dialogue, there is a violation of maxim of relation
when Vladimir says that “that’s all dead and buried.” Instead of
continuing the conversation he finishes it at this dialogue. Here it can
be implicated that maybe he is trying not to remember his past. Here,
the ambiguity of language arises because of communication gap.
There is no co-operation on behalf of Vladimir to convey the exact
message of the character or author.

27. CONT…
• VLADIMIR. Charming evening we’re having.
• ESTRAGON. Unforgettable***.
• VLADIMIR. And it’s not over.
• ESTRAGON. Apparently not.
• VLADIMIR. It’s only the beginning.

28. CONT….
• In this conversation, there are flouting of maxims of manner as
Estragon is obscure with his one word response. The use of the term
unforgettable is ambiguous and does not help clarify if the characters
are enjoying or having a horrible experience.

29. THANKYOU