Grices Maxims Theory

Grices maxim theory:

Cooperative Principle-
 
Grice suggested that conversation is based on a shared principle of cooperation, something like:

“Make your conversational contribution what is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”
This principle was fleshed out in a series of maxims.

What are the maxims?
• The maxim of quantity, where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more.
• The maxim of quality, where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.
• The maxim of relation, where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion.
• The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and uncertainty.

Violating a maxim-
There are several ways/reasons a speaker might break one of the rules:
1. Violating the Cooperative Principle. (See “Grice’s Cooperative Principle.”) One instance in which a speaker might break the maxim of quality is if they are really trying to deceive the listener; but this would also be a violation of the cooperative principle. For the really interesting violations, let’s assume the Cooperative Principle holds. 2. Signaling a violation (minor violation). A person might essentially come out and tell you they are violating a maxim and why.

Examples.
“I don’t know if this is relevant, but...” (relation)
“I’m not sure how to say this, but...” (manner)
“I can’t tell you; I’m sworn to secrecy.” (quantity)
“This is just the word on the street; I can’t vouch for this information.” (quality)

Critisms of the maxims:
  It’s not clear whether the maxims work in other languages and cultures. Some key concepts are undefined. A lot of intuition must be used to figure out, for example, when a speaker is being irrelevant. They’re not a complete listing of the rules we follow in conversation; for example, there are also rules about, say, politeness, which are not addressed. There is some overlap, so it’s not always clear-cut which maxim is being violated.