PRAGMATICS: MAXIM FLOUTING

PRAGMATICS: MAXIM FLOUTING

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1. MAXIM FLOUTING
PRAGMATICS

2. TYPES OF MAXIM FLOUTING
QuantityMaximFlouting
Quantitymaximfloutingmeansthatthespeakersofaconversationfail
tofulfillthemaximofquantityintheCooperativePrinciple.Itincludes
whetherthespeakersarenotasinformativeasisrequiredormore
informativethanisrequired.Speakersbecomelessinformativeormore
informativewhentheyfloutmaximofquantity.
Charlene:Ihopeyoubroughtthebreadandthecheese.
Dexter:Ah,Ibroughtthebread.
Yule(1996:40)
Inthisconversation,Dextertriestosaythatwhatisnotmentionedis
notbrought.Heintentionallygivestoolittleinformationtorespondto
Charlene’sutterancesoCharleneasthehearerofDexterisexpectedto
understandtheunstatedmeaningof‘Ah,Ibroughtthebread.’By
sayingthatutterance,Dexterhasfloutedmaximofquantitybecausehe
doesnotgivetherequiredinformation.

3. QualityMaximFlouting
Whenaspeakerfloutsamaximofquality,thespeakersimply
sayssomethingthatdoesnotrepresentwhatheorsheactually
thinks.Thespeakerfailstofulfillthemaximofquality;amaxim
thatrequiresthespeakertomakeacontributionthatistrue,thatis
notsayingwhatisbelievedtobefalseandnotsayingthatfor
whichthespeakerlacksofadequateevidence.
Ellie:Ough.Winterhascome.
Sam:Right.Myhouseisarefrigeratorrightnow.
Bysayingmyhouseisarefrigerator;Samhasbeenflouting
maximofquality.Itisbecausehesayssomethingthatisnottrue.
Sambelievesthathishouseisnotarefrigerator.Sayingthingthat
hebelievestobefalsefloutmaximofquality.Intermsof
conveyinghiddenmessage,Samtriestoexpresshisagreement
andinformElliethathishouseisverycoldasarefrigeratorby
sayingthatexpression.

4. Relevance Maxim Flouting
Relevancemaximfloutingmeansthatthespeakersofa
conversationfailtoberelevantincommunicating.Speakersare
usuallybeingirrelevantinfloutingmaximofrelevance.
However,beingirrelevantdoesnotpurelymeanthatthespeakers
donotwanttoberelevant.Sometimes,speakersarebeing
irrelevantbecausetheywanttohidesomethingortosay
somethingtoothersindirectly.
Annie : Betty, the phone is ringing.
Betty : I’m in the bath.
Cutting (2008: 38)
Inthisexchange,Bettyhasfloutedmaximofrelevancebybeing
irrelevant.Bettystatesananswerwithadifferenttopic.Here,
AnnieisexpectedtobeabletoreceiveBetty’sunstatedmessage.
SinceBettyisinthebath,Annieisexpectedtoanswerthephone.

5. Manner Maxim Flouting
The example of manner maxim flouting:
Daughter : Where are you going, Dad?
Daddy : To the m-a-r-k-e-t.
Afatheranswershisdaughter’squestionambiguously.Insteadof
saying‘market’directly,hespellstheword‘market’byitsletters.
Theefatherhasfloutedmaximofmannersincehedoesnotavoid
obscurityofexpression.
Relatedtothemeaningandthereasonforthefathersayingthat,
thecontextisanimportantaspecttoobserve.
Inthiscase,thefatheristryingtokeepasecretfromhislittlest
daughtersohislittlestdaughterdoesnotdemandtogoalongwith
him.Thisunstatedmeaningmakesthefatherfloutsmaximof
manner,notviolateit.

6. A further example:
Ahmad : Science class?
Joe : Yes. The lecturer came in and the students
left.
WhenJoeexplainshisclass,heusesanambiguoussentence.
Here,Joehasfloutedmaximofmanner.Hissentencecanbe
meantthatthestudentsleftafterthelecturercomesbecause
principallytheydonotjointheclassorthatthestudents
purposelyleftafterthelecturercomesbecausetheydonotwant
tojointheclass(actuallytheyshouldbeintheclass).
Here,Joe’sutteranceisambiguous.Ithastwomeaningsinside
thatcanmakethelistenerconfused.

7. ReferencesandRecommendedReading
•Cutting,J.(2008).PragmaticsandDiscourse:AResource
BookforStudents.NewYork:Routledge
•Mey,J.L.(2001).Pragmatics,AnIntroduction,Second
Edition.Australia:BlackwellPublishing.
•Gazdar,G.(1979)Pragmatics,Implicature,Presupposition
andLogicalForm.NewYork:FloridaAcademicPress,
Inc.ltd.
•Grice,H.P.(1975).LogicandConversation.NewYork:
OxfordUniversityPress.
•Yule,G.(1996).Pragmatics.UnitedKingdom:Oxford
UniversityPress.
•Levinson,S.C.(1995).Pragmatics.Cambridge:Cambridge
UniversityPress.