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Conversations

Conversations. Conversation are cooperative events: Without cooperation, interaction would be chaotic. Would be no reason to communicate Grice's Maxims are minimal agreements needed to interact Need to cooperate to achieve goal of "getting information"

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Conversations

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  1. Conversations • Conversation are cooperative events: • Without cooperation, interaction would be chaotic. Would be no reason to communicate • Grice's Maxims are minimal agreements needed to interact • Need to cooperate to achieve goal of "getting information" • Avoid certain conversational moves: i.e., lying, deliberate confusion

  2. BASIC PRINCIPLE: • "Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchanged in which you are engaged." • Must acknowledge purpose or direction or it won't work • i.e., ask a question requires an answer or it will break down

  3. When a maxim is violated, meanings are affected. IMPLICATURE • Listeners search for an explanation to account for the violation • Violation illustrates: • 1] that we take maxims seriously • 2] that we can mean more than we actually say • It’s how we can say things without really saying them • syntactic and semantic rules are not enough to explain how sentences convey meaning • When violated we assume the person could have fulfilled maxim but choose not to, hence look for a reason

  4. Make your contribution neither more nor less than is required. a. Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange. b. Do not make your contribution more informative than required Quantity: (e.g., Letter of Recommendation): “Dear Sir, Mr. X's command of English is excellent, and his attendance at tutorials has been regular. Your Sincerely” The maxim of QUANTITY

  5. Try to make your contribution one that is true a. Do not say what you believe to be false b. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence Quality: If you and I both know X's job performance is terrible and I say "I wish I had more workers like X." sarcasm perhaps The maxim of QUALITY

  6. Be relevant Relation: (pertinent to context) Abrupt changes in topics, for example, We're gossiping about a mutual friend and I say, after a moment of silence, "Nice weather." The maxim of RELATION

  7. Be perspicuous a. Avoid obscurity of expression b. Avoid ambiguity c. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity) d. Be orderly Manner: Using complicated constructions when simple ones will do In describing a singers performance: a. "Miss X sang `Home on the Range' b. "Miss X produced a series of sounds that corresponded closely with the score of `Home on the Range'. The maxim of MANNER

  8. ADDITIONAL MAXIMS SUGGEST BY OTHERS: • 1] Politenessmaxim (Bach & Harnish) • speaker must not be offensive, vulgar, rude, etc. • 2] Moralitymaxim (Bach & Harnish) • speaker doesn't repeat, ask for privileged information, do thing "ought not to", etc.

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