Basic concepts in relation to The Cooperative Principle

1. UNIT 3
DISCOURSE
COOPERATIO
N
Oral and written speech
The Cooperative Principle
Figures of Speech

2. It is transient
It is usually improvised
Speakers are bound to take turns
when speaking (speaker and
listener are both present)
As the listener is present, it is
easy to get direct and take the
necessary steps to guide the
conversation
Oral Speech
It is permanent
It is planned
There are no turns between the writer and
the reader, because they do not share the
same time and space
As the reader is absent and usually
unknown, it is difficult for the writer to
predict and take the necessary steps to
guide their understanding
Written speech

3. Immediate context and
paralinguistic features help the
speaker to express the message
without much cohesion
Speech tends to be redundant
(repetitions, paraphrases,
restatements)
Linguistically informal, less
organized
As the writer and listener do not share the
same time and space, the absence of
paralinguistic features have to be somehow
supplied by drawings, graphics, letter type,
titles subtitles, punctuation marks,
connective, cohesive devices, etc.
It tends to avoid redundancy (more
grammatically structured and lexically
dense)
It tends to be more formal from the
linguistic viewpoint

4. The Cooperative Principle
The Cooperative Principle is a theory proposed
by Paul Grice (1975) which establishes
the implicit agreement between
the interlocutors
C.P. includes 4 maxims Be brief
Be relevant
Be clear
Be true

5. Pay attention to the videos to learn more
about Grice’s cooperative principle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRMgGCNKijM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMaNGweLPyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2xRipq9Xx8

6. The four maxims
The maxim
of quantity
It recommends not to include in
our interactions more
information than necessary;
that is, it suggests us to be
brief
a. Are you ready?
b. I told you to wait for me
because I have to take a
shower, brush my teeth and
then pick up the clothe I am
going to wear because I like to
dress appropriately…
a. Are you ready?
b. Not yet
We need to be careful with
the amount of information we get;
If we’re too brief, we could create terseness;
if we say too much we could create prolixity

7. The four maxims
The maxim
of manner
It says that our messages
should be as clear as possible
in order to be understood more
easily
I think I’ll go to the
S-U-P-E-R-M-A-R-
K-E-T
I love when you sing
out of key
We need to be careful, because
we could seem rude to people

8. The four maxims
The maxim
of relevance
It states that we should try to
make our messages as
relevant as possible according
to the contextual situation
A teacher stops explaining the topic to tell
the students:
Do you like my shoes?
We need to make sure our speech is relevant to
the context; otherwise we could make ourselves
look boring or out of context

9. The four maxims
The maxim
of quality
It states that we should try to
make our contributions, in any
oral or written language
interaction, as sincere as
possible
Queen
Victoria was
made of iron
I’d give my
life for a cup
of coffee
a. What did you do yesterday?
b. I spent the whole day studying.
I didn’t waste time sleeping,
going to the bathroom or eating
We need to be careful, because
we could look like liars

10. The Cooperative Principle
The cooperative principle must be combined
with the use of general knowledge of the world,
so the receiver of the message can reason from
the literal meaning (locution) of what is said to
the pragmatic meaning (illocution of the speaker)
in order to infer what the sender is intending to
do with his /her words
How does our B.K. help us achieve comprenhension?

11. The Cooperative Principle
An old woman looks for her neighbor and tells him:
There’s a cat stuck under the gate of my
garage
Knowledge
of the world
Animals are unhappy when they feel trapped
Humans are able to free animals from their pain
Old people loose their abilities (speed, strength)
Cooperative
Principle
The old woman was telling the truth
She was being relevant
She was being clear
(even though she was using an
indirect speech act)
Taking all these aspects into account, it is possible
to explain and interpret the utterance
“There’s a cat stuck under the gate of my
garage” as a request for help in freeing the cat:
Come and free the cat which
is trapped under the gate…

12. The Cooperative Principle
This tacit contract can be violated in some cases. This violation
can be done in order to get a specific perlocutive effect on the
listener or reader (we could flout the relevance maxim in order to
change the subject in a uncomfortable conversation; we could
flout the manner and quality maxims in order to avoid others to
understand us; we could flout the quantity maxim in order to
impact and get our interlocutor’s attention)
The respect or violation of these maxims depends on
contextual factors such as the type of relation between the
speakers, the formality of the situation, the place where they are
interacting, etc

13. The Cooperative Principle
Two friends at the movie speaking to each other
during the film:
They use clues to avoid others to get what they say
Teachers reinforcing their explanations to
increase their students’ understanding
Two doctors speaking in front of their patient
about his/her terminal health condition
using technical vocabulary in order to avoid
their patient’s concern

15. Figures of speech can be used to reach a
special communicative purpose; that is,
when we want to get our interlocutor’s
attention, or when we want to create a
special effect on our listener or reader, we
make use of different resources such the
figures of speech.
A figure of speech is a word,
phrase or sentence used with
the intention of producing a
special effect on our
interlocutor

16. Simile Metaphor Hyperbole Irony Metonymy
Alliteration Personification Onomatopoeia Euphemis Idioms
Cliche Assonance Allegory Analogy Humour
Anadiplosis Antanaclasis Climax Half rhyme Superlatives

17. Figures of speech
Simile
It refers to a comparison;
the comparison is made explicitly
by the use of a function word
(like, similar to, as, likewise)
Peter eats like a pig

18. Figures of speech
Metaphor
It’s a kind of comparison:
you describe something by referring
to something else. The comparison
is established implicitly
The rain came down in
long knitting needles

19. Figures of speech
Hyperbole
It refers to an exaggeration in order
to make something sound more
impressive than it really is
Women can do thousand
of things at the same time

20. Figures of speech
Personification
Figurative speech which function
is to attribute human qualities
to animals, nature, objects, ideas.
It was time
to go home
but the bell
refused to ring

21. Figures of speech
Irony or
sarcasm
They are subtle forms of humor that
involves saying the opposite of
what we really mean
They just love being
peaceful

22. Figures of speech
Metonymy
It refers to substitution:
one word or phrase can be substituted
for another with which it is
closely associated
There was not a single soul
the moment I arrived

23. Figures of speech
Alliteration
It refers to the repetition of
usually initial consonant sounds
in two or more neighboring
words or syllables
PI
She sells seashells
by the seashore

24. Figures of speech
Onomatopoeia
A figure of speech by which the sound
of words suggests or echoes a sense.
(Imitation)
PI
The buzz of the bees…

25. Pedagogical Implications
There are many reasons why English teachers should try to teach their
students how to understand, interpret and use different types of figures
speech:
1) As they are so frequently used, our students will find them every time they
are exposed to oral or written English;
2) Given the fact that their signification is always different to their contextual
value, they are a potential common cause of misunderstandings,
3) If they develop the ability to use English in a figurative way, their
communicative competence will be increased since the productivity of their
linguistic repertoire will be multiplied.

26. Read the following text and
try to identify examples of
the different figures of
speech acts explaining
which maxim(s) you
consider are violated
PRACTICE ACTIVITY

27. As I expected, the waiting room was as crowed
as a football stadium. Any waiting room,
especially a dentist's, as this was, is not the best
place to spend an afternoon. No matter how
hard a dentist tries to make his waiting room look
pleasant, it always has a bizarre atmosphere,
because there is that odd smell that reminds you
of a hospital.
A small table in the centre is covered with very
old magazines, like museum’s antiques. This
waiting room was not exception. There were ugly
pictures on the wall and the magazines on the
table looked like a great pile of waste paper. I
took my seat and decided to pass the time
watching people around me.
The Dentist’s Waiting Room
How do you
feel when yo
go to the
dentist?

28. A little man beside me was turning over the pages of a magazine
quickly and nervous; every second he would throw the magazine
on to the table, look for another one and go back to his chair. Near
him, there was an old man whose snores were so loud they would
wake a sleepy elephant. Meanwhile, the little man next to me kept
sighing loudly. At last, he got up, walked towards the door and
began examining microscopically the pictures on the wall. He soon
got bored of his scientific study of art and he grabbed another
magazine from the bottom of the mountain and took a seat. There
was a deathly silence in the room when the door opened and a
nurse entered: next! She said…. And the next lucky victim was led
into the room.