1、,“Can you pass the salt?”,Why Conversation Works (when it shouldnt) according to theorists Grice, Goffman, Brown, Levinson and Leech,A Level English Language,Grices Logic of Conversation,Conversation works - even when we dont say what we mean. Why it works so well fascinated philosopher Paul Grice.
2、He wondered about conversations such as this:Jack: Youve got a mountain to climb!Lily: Its better than a slap in the face. Grice wondered just how we make meaning out of such conversation.,Grices Logic of Conversation,Grice concluded that conversation must follow its own set of logical principles or
3、 rules. He worked out how, even when we dont mean what we say that the full pragmatic force of our utterance is easily understood, as in this third example:Lily: This bottles half empty already!Jack: Gosh - is that the time already?,Grices Insights,Communication is a co-operative activity: when two
4、people communicate, its in their interests to make the communication go as smoothly as possible in order to achieve their aims. Speakers behave in certain predictable ways. When we, as hearers, try to work out what someone means, we do it by assuming theyre being co-operative.,Grices Co-operative Pr
5、inciple,“Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose and direction of the exchange in which you are engaged.”Conversation works only with the co-operation of its participants.Co-operation is built around a series of Gricean maxi
6、ms:,Quality Quantity,Manner Relation,Gricean Maxims 1. Quality,“Do not say what you believe to be false.” “Do not say that for which you lack evidence.”So when someone speaks to us, we assume: that what they say is not knowingly untruthful; that the truthfulness of what they say does not need to be
7、made stated.,Gricean Maxims 2. Quantity,“Make your contribution as informative as is required.” “Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.”So when someone speaks to us, we assume: they do not purposefully hold back anything that is important; they do not give more information
8、than is asked.,Gricean Maxims 3. Manner,“Be perspicuous.” “Avoid obscurity of expression.” “Avoid ambiguity.” “Be brief.” “Be orderly.”So when someone speaks to us, we assume: that what they say is being said as straightforwardly as they can say it.,Gricean Maxims 4. Relevance,“Be relevant.”So when
9、someone speaks to us , we assume: that what they say is relevant to the conversation.,The Gricean Maxims,Be true Be brief,Be clear Be relevant,In short, these maxims specify what the participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, co-operative way: they should speak
10、sincerely, relevantly and clearly whilst providing sufficient information. Levinson (1983),The maxims in action,“How do I get to Sainsburys, mate?” “Go straight ahead, turn right at the school, then left at the bus stop on the hill.”Speaker A assumes that: B believes his directions to be genuine the
11、 maxim of quality; B believes the information to be sufficient the maxim of quantity; B believes the information to be clear the maxim of manner; B believes his directions are to Sainsburys the maxim of relation.,Not following the maxims,Grice recognised that whilst we could choose not to follow a m
12、axim, such a choice would be conscious and consequential. A speaker can choose toviolate a maxim and be intentionally misleading. opt out of a maxim and refuse to co-operate. deal with a clash of maxims, for instance, between saying enough and saying all that we know to be true. flout a maxim and be
13、 intentionally ironic.,Violating a Maxim,In this BBC interview between Jeremy Paxman and Michael Howard, the leader of the opposition violates the maxim of relation by not giving an answer that relates to the question:Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule? Howard: I was not entitled to instruct Derek
14、 Lewis and I did not instruct him. Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him? Howard: The truth of the matter is that.,Opting out,Here, Paxman asks the Prime Minister a question; the minister opts out of the maxim of relation:Paxman: “When will war become inevitable?”PM: “Well I know you have to ask
15、that question but its the kind of question I cannot answer.”,Flouting,This is the most important use of Grices maxims. Unlike violating, flouting a maxim allows a speaker to signal that although they seem to be violating a maxim, they are still co-operating.,Which leads us very nicely on to Grices k
16、ey idea of “Implicature”,“Mmm Donuts” “Homie, those pants look awful tight to me.”,Conversational Implicature Gricean Pragmatics knowing what isnt said,What Grice called implicature occurs when a speaker chooses to flout a maxim.The listener, assuming that the speaker still intends being cooperative
17、, looks for meaning other than that which is said.The intended meaning will be arrived at through the speaker working out the pragmatic force of the utterance rather than its semantic sense.,Implicature Flouting the maxim of quantity,A: I hear you went to the theatre last night; what play did you se
18、e? B: Well, I watched a number of people stand on the stage in Elizabethan costumes uttering series of sentences which corresponded closely with the script of Twelfth Night.Here, Bs verbose answer, although it doesnt say anything more than “I saw a performance of Twelfth Night,” invites A to infer t
19、hat the performers were doing a miserably bad job of acting.,Implicature Flouting the maxim of quality,A: What are you baking?B: Be i are tee aitch dee ay wye see ay kay ee.By answering obscurely, B conveys to A the implicature that the information is to be kept secret from the young child who is in
20、 the room with them.,Implicature Flouting the maxim of manner,When discussing an essay with a student, it is customary for a teacher to be polite and to find things to praise“So let me say straight away, James, that your essay is beautifully printed, the font has been immaculately well chosen and th
21、e positioning of those staples is a work of sheer genius.”,How the implicature works,To James, such a comment is apparently not relevant to what he wants to hear so he assumes his teacher has flouted the maxim of relevance. BUT James assumes the teacher is still co-operating in the conversation by t
22、aking his conversational turn leaving James to assume he is trying to convey something relevant about the quality of the essay.SO If James assumes the essay is other than worthless, then the teacher is observing the co-operative Principle.The listener assumes that the speaker assumes that the listen
23、er can work it out.,Grices Maxims In Writing?,Many kinds of communication operate as interactions a sort of one sided conversation letters, advertisements, and so on. Applying Grices maxims to written texts can allow you to develop subtle insights. Flouting Grices maxims is more difficult in writing
24、 because its less easy to make sure that your reader understands what is happening.This can be especially important in the Language and Technology topic where much writing is conversational but lacks the prosody and body-language of face-to-face interaction.,Grices Maxims and Implicature can be appl
25、ied well beyond conversation,What maxims are being flouted here? What implicatures are being created? To what effect? For what purpose?,POLITENESS,If we really want co-operation we also need to be polite,Goffmans Face,Erving Goffman was intrigued by what lay behind everyday expressions such as losin
26、g face, saving face and being shamefaced.He saw that without politeness, conversation didnt work and that the need for politeness was rooted in saving face: face is the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a personal contact Goff
27、man recognised that whenever we talk, we need to feel liked. As a consequence, conversations are sites for potential loss of face and that face work must, therefore, be a part of talk if loss of face is to be avoided and co-operation is to be maintained.,Co-operation is vital to conversation, but wi
28、thout politeness, all is lost.,Negative and Positive Face,Negative Face The desire to feel unimpeded, i.e. the freedom from feeling imposed upon by the interaction. Positive Face The desire to feel approved of , i.e. to maintain a positive and consistent self-image during the interaction.,Brown and
29、Levinson developed Goffmans ideas into the concepts of positive and negative face.,Negative and Positive Face,Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) conversational turns that risk a loss of face. Positive politeness face work addresses positive face concerns, by showing concern for the others face. Negative p
30、oliteness face work addresses negative face concerns, by acknowledging the others face is threatened.,Face Threatening Acts,Close your mouth when you eat, you fat swine.A bald FTAYou have such beautiful teeth. I wish I didnt see them when you eat. An FTA using positive politenessI know youre very hu
31、ngry and that steak is a bit tough, but I would appreciate it if you would chew with your mouth closed. An FTA using negative politenessI wonder how far a persons lips can stretch yet remain closed when eating? An off record or indirect FTA,The Politeness Principle,Geoffrey Leech proposed the need f
32、or politeness maxims as a prerequisite for conversational co-operation. In the absence of politeness, Leech suggested, it will be assumed that an attitude of politeness is absent.Each maxim has two forms: positive and negative.Each maxim has a lesser sub-maxim that recognises the general law that ne
33、gative politeness that we seek to minimise discord is more important than positive politeness that we seek concord.,Leechs Politeness Maxims (1),Tact: minimise the cost to others sub-maxim: maximise benefit to othersGenerosity: minimise benefit to self maximise cost to selfApprobation: minimise disp
34、raise of others maximise praise of other,Leechs Politeness Maxims (2),Modesty: minimise praise of self maximise dispraise of self Agreement: minimise disagreement between self and others maximise agreement between self and other Sympathy: minimise antipathy between self and others maximise sympathy
35、between self and other,Cn u fnd sm mxms, face n plitns in ths txt msg?,B. Heya! Im a party! Wikd 2 ere frm u! Aint gt mch batri so mayb txt u 2mz? D kj xxxxA. Hii KJ Hows u doin? Avnt cht 2 U 4 ages yano! We shud catch up sometime! TB xxxxxA. next day U av a Gud time at da party? Il b online L8R! lo
36、l! Tb xxx,Co-operation & Politeness,Politeness,Analyse this conversation at the level of co-operation and politeness.,This powerpoint was kindly donated to http:/ is home to over a thousand powerpoints submitted by teachers. This is a completely free site and requires no registration. Please visit and I hope it will help in your teaching.,
