7/27/2019 Pragmatics _ Traductology _ Gricean Maxims

1/3

Grice's Maxims

Maxim of Quality - Be Truthful Only say what you believe to be true.

Only say what you have evidence for.Example:

A: Should I buy my son this new sports car?B: I don't know if that's such a good idea. His record isn't so great.

vs.

B: Oh, absolutely. He's only totaled two cars since he got his license last year.

Maxim of Quantity - Quantity of Information 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.

Example:

A: Where is the post office?B: Down the road, about 50 metres past the second left.

vs.

B: Not far.

Maxim of Relevance - Relevance We should make our contribution relevant to the interaction.

We should indicate in what way it is not.

Example:A: How are you doing in school?

B: Not too well, actually. I'm failing two of my classes.vs.

B: What fine weather we're having lately!

Maxim of Manner - Be Clear Avoid obscurity of expression.

Avoid ambiguity.

Be brief.

Be orderly.

Example:

A: What did you think of that movie?

B: It was interesting.vs.

B: I liked the creative storyline. The ending was really a surprise!

1

7/27/2019 Pragmatics _ Traductology _ Gricean Maxims

2/3

ExplanationThese maxims may be better understood as describing the assumptions listeners normally make

about the way speakers will talk, rather than prescriptions for how one ought to talk.PhilosopherKent Bach writes:

...[W]e need first to get clear on the character of Grices maxims. They are not sociological

generalizations about speech, nor they are moral prescriptions or proscriptions on what tosay or communicate. Although Grice presented them in the form of guidelines for how to

communicate successfully, I think they are better construed as presumptions about

utterances, presumptions that we as listeners rely on and as speakers exploit. (Bach2005).

Gricean Maxims generate implicatures. If the overt, surface meaning of a sentence does not seem

to be consistent with the Gricean maxims, and yet the circumstances lead us to think thatthe speaker is nonetheless obeying the cooperative principle, we tend to look for other

meanings that could be implicated by the sentence.

Grice did not, however, assume that all people should constantly follow these maxims. Instead,

he found it interesting when these were "flouted" or "violated" (either purposefully or

unintentionally) by speakers, which would imply some other, hidden meaning. Theimportance was in what was notsaid. For example: "It's raining" is in violation of quality

and quantity of spoken language; however, in context (e.g. when someone has suggesteda game of tennis) the reasoning behind this 'fragment' sentence becomes clear.

Criticism of the Gricean Maxims and the Cooperative PrincipleGrices theory is often disputed with the argument that cooperative conversation, as with most

social behavior, is culturally determined.

Therefore, the Gricean Maxims and the Cooperative Principle cannot be universally applied dueto intercultural differences.

The Malagasy, for example, follow a completely opposite Cooperative Principle in order to

achieve conversational cooperation. In their culture, speakers are reluctant to shareinformation and flout the Maxim of Quantity by evading direct questions and replying on

incomplete answers because of the risk of losing face by committing oneself to the truth

of the information, as well as the fact that having information is a form of prestige.

Another criticism is that the Gricean Maxims can easily be misinterpreted to be a guideline for

etiquette, instructing speakers on how to be moral, polite conversationalists. However,

the Gricean Maxims, despite their wording, are only meant to describe the commonlyaccepted traits of successful cooperative communication.

Geoffrey Leech created the Politeness maxims: tact, generosity, approbation, modesty,

agreement, and sympathy.

2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Bachhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implication_(pragmatics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malagasyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Leechhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politeness_maximshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Bachhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implication_(pragmatics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malagasyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Leechhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politeness_maxims

7/27/2019 Pragmatics _ Traductology _ Gricean Maxims

3/3