Conversational Maxim Essay

1.3 Cooperative Principle and Conversational Maxims: At this point, it can be advanced that any sort of verbal exchange runs more seamlessly when it abides by certain social conventions. In the same light, Grice in 1975 put forward a principle, the cooperative principle, whose four conversational maxims determines the smooth running of any conversation. These four maxims are the maxims of quantity, quality, relation, and the maxim of manner.
The 4 Conversational Maxims Cutting (2002) details each maxim one by one. The maxim of quantity states that one must not tell too little nor too much information. In fact, too little information and the hearer would be unable to identify what is talked about, too much information and you may risk boring your interlocutor. The maxim of quality requires the speaker to be sincere, that what he/she is saying corresponds to the reality, and not to advance anything

Take for instance someone saying “I had a great lunch today!”, the fact that the speaker is not revealing enough information is intended to invite the interlocutor to ask what the speaker had for lunch. To flout the maxim of quality is to say something not representative of what one's think and yet it is possible for the hearer to pick up the implicit meaning. This is similar to the Sir Maurice and the young man example. Another example would be to exaggerate by using an hyperbole; someone who had to skip a meal would be flouting the maxim of quality by saying “I'm starving!”, the context of the situation would make the hearer recognize the floating of the maxim and infer the implicit meaning which has a touch of humor. Moreover, metaphors, euphemisms, irony, sarcasm, and banter4 are also ways to flout the maxim of quality. “When grandma left us...” is a typical euphemism used by parents to their children to imply the death of their