Cooperative Principle
A: Do you know who Gurt is?
B: Will Behnke, age 16, 164.5 lbs, 6'2, water polo player, hooper, ABG.
Which maxim is being violated?
the maxim of quality
Give an example of Speech Act Theory in action.
"I pronounce you man and wife."
"I sentence you to five years in prison." etc.
DOUBLE POINTS: A student is defending her thesis. Her advisor reads it and says, "The bibliography is very thorough." When she asks what he thought of the argument, he says nothing more.
(a) Identify which Gricean maxim is being flouted and explain how.
(b) What implicature is generated, and how does the cooperative principle allow the student to derive it?
(c) Would this count as a violation or a flout of the maxim? Distinguish between the two terms and justify your answer.
The maxim of Quantity is flouted. The advisor gives less information than required given the question. He could easily comment on the argument but doesn't. Because the student assumes the advisor is still cooperating, she infers that the silence is meaningful: the argument is probably weak. This is a flout: the advisor deliberately and openly gives too little information, expecting the student to notice and draw an inference. A violation would involve secretly misleading the listener without intending them to detect it, but his silence is easily detectable and interpretable.
A: What are we eating for lunch today?
B: I had fish for dinner yesterday.
Which maxim is being violated?
the maxim of relation
locutionary act
TRIPLE POINTS: Sarcasm is described as a violation of the Maxim of Quality in which both interlocutors understand that what is said is not what is meant. Using Speech Act Theory alongside the Cooperative Principle, provide analysis of the statement: "Oh, great, another Monday," said by a visibly exhausted office worker. What is the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary act? Which maxims are violated or flouted? And what social/contextual knowledge must be shared for the implicature to succeed?
Locutionary act: The speaker is asserting that Monday has arrived and that it is "great." Illocutionary act: The intended force is an expression of displeasure or complaint. Perlocutionary act: The listener may laugh, sympathize, commiserate, or feel solidarity. The Maxim of Quality is flouted. The speaker says something patently false ("great") knowing the listener knows it's false.
Who is responsible for the creation of the Gricean maxims?
Herbert Paul Grice (Grice acceptable)
This act of Speech Act Theory could be described as a request, complaint, warning, etc.
illocutionary act
DOUBLE POINTS: A doctor tells a terminal patient: "There's nothing more we can do." Identify all three layers of the speech act, then explain which Gricean maxim is most at tension here and why the statement walks the line between observing it and violating it.
Locutionary: a factual statement about the limits of medical intervention. Illocutionary: a disclosure of a terminal prognosis, ending treatment. Perlocutionary: the patient may grieve, make end-of-life arrangements, lose hope, or find peace. The Maxim of Quantity is most strained: the statement is technically informative enough, but a fully cooperative speaker might add more detail. By stopping short, the doctor floats on the edge of under-informing.
What is it called when a maxim is intentionally violated?
flouting maxim(s)
When a speaker says, "The soup is a little bland," and the listener adds salt to it, their response is an example of this part of Speech Act Theory.
perlocutionary act
DOUBLE POINTS: During a job interview, the interviewer asks "Do you have any weaknesses?" The candidate replies, "I tend to care too much about my work." Analyze this response using all three speech act layers and at least two Gricean maxims.
Locutionary: a literal claim about caring deeply about one's work. Illocutionary: deflection. Perlocutionary: the interviewer likely sees through it, feeling the candidate is evasive or rehearsed, which may reduce trust. The Maxim of Quality is flouted. The candidate is not being genuinely truthful about an actual weakness. The Maxim of Quantity is also violated: the answer does not have the informational depth that the interviewer sought.
When speaker B answers "Some students passed the test," they implicate that not all students passed by using a word lower on this scale: all > most > many > some. What is this type of implicature called?
scalar implicature
What are the three layers of Speech Act Theory?
locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts
TRIPLE POINTS: A parent says to a child making noise: "I am trying to sleep." The child goes quiet. Then, years later, the same adult child says the exact same sentence to their parent during a phone call. Explain how the illocutionary and perlocutionary acts might differ between these two exchanges despite the locutionary act being identical, and what role context plays in Gricean interpretation.
The locutionary act is obviously the same both times. In the first example, the parent's illocutionary act is a request, wielding authority over the child. Thus, the child interprets the request and complies. In the second example, the child's lack of authority over the parent as well as the medium of communication being a phone call changes the illocutionary act to a request, complaint, or something less direct than the parent's.