Research Methods in T&I Studies I Cooperative Principle and Culture-Specific Maxims

Research Methods in T&I Studies I

Cooperative Principle and Culture-Specific Maxims

Cooperative Principle

Grice’s Cooperative Principle (CP)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 1991: 307).

Grice’s Conversational Maxims

Maxim of Quantity Maxim of Quality (try to make your

contribution one that is true) Maxim of Relation (be relevant) Maxim of Manner (be perspicuous)


Maxim of QuantitySubmaxim: Make your contribution as

informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange.

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.


Maxim of QualitySubmaxim: Do not say what you believe to be

false.Submaxim: Do not say that for which you lack

adequate evidence.


Maxim of MannerSubmaxim: Avoid obscurity of expression.Submaxim: Avoid ambiguity.Submaxim: Be brief (avoid unnecessary

prolixity).Submaxim: Be orderly.


Options available to a speakerFollow the maxims; Violate a maxim; ‘Opt out’ of a maxim; Violate a maxim in order to obey another

(where maxims clash); Deliberately flout a maxim in order to

communicate an implied meaning.

Intentionally conveyed meaning

What is said What is conventionally implicated What is implicated in other ways, by violation of

e.g. aesthetic, social or moral maxims What is implicated by observation of the

conversational maxims in general What is implicated by the apparent violation of a

conversational maxim in a particular context


What is saidThe propositional context expressed by an

utterance, e.g. He is in the grip of a vice.


What is conventionally implicatedMeaning conveyed by linguistic convention

but which does not contribute to the proposition expressed, e.g. He is an Englishman; he is, therefore, brave. The use of therefore conventionally implicates that being brave is a consequence of being an Englishman.


What is implicated in other ways Meaning conveyed by violation of a communicative norm,

such as that of politeness or some social norm relating to forms of address, for instance. E.g.

Policeman: What’s your name, boy?

Doctor: Doctor Poussaint. I’m a physician ...

Policeman: What’s your first name, boy?

Doctor: Alvin. (Ervin-Tripp 1972)


What is implicated by observation of the conversational maxims in general Meaning conveyed by the assumption that the

speaker is observing the conversational maxims in general: if A says I am out of petrol and B replies There’s a garage round the corner, then B – who is obeying the maxim of relation – implies that the garage is or likely to be open, and that it sells petrol.


What is implicated by the apparent violation of a conversational maxim in a particular context E.g. (of a mutual friend C, working in a bank), A asks

how C is getting on with the new job and B answers: Oh quite well, I think; he likes his colleagues, and he hasn’t been to prison yet (violating at least the maxim of relation, possibly to imply that C is dishonest). Other examples: metaphor (e.g. You are the cream in my coffee), irony, hyperbole, understatement, tautologies (e.g. Men are men).

Culture-specificity of maxims

Reworded version of the CPMake your conversational contribution such

as is required during a conversation in your culture, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

Culture-specificity of maxims

Options for dealing with the culture-specificity of maxims in translationSpell out implicaturesProvide conventional cues (e.g. of irony)

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Research Methods in T&I Studies I Cooperative Principle and Culture-Specific Maxims