Ice and The CP

3.
Grice and the

Cooperative
Principle
PRAGMATICS
Learning 2. Analyze how the violation of

objectives Grice’s Maxims can create
humour
1. Learn about Herbert Paul Grice

and his Maxims of Conversation
Warm-up exercise
What might the second speaker ‘mean’ in each of the following dialogues? Write a
pragmatic paraphrase in each case, and think about how you inferred
[deduced/concluded] this meaning.
(a) Virginia: Do you like my new hat?
Mary: It’s pink!
(b) Maggie: Coffee?
James: It would keep me awake all night.
(c) Linda: Have you finished the student evaluation forms and the reading lists?
Jean: I’ve done the reading lists.
(d) Phil: Are you going to Steve’s barbecue?
Terry: Well, Steve’s got those dogs now.
(e) Annie: Was the dessert any good?
Mike: Annie, cherry pie is cherry pie.
Warm-up exercise - Answers
Possible paraphrases:
(a) ‘I don’t like your hat.’
(b) ‘I won’t have some coffee.’
(c) ‘I haven’t done the evaluation forms.’
(d) ‘I don’t think I’m going to Steve’s barbecue.’
(e) ‘No, the dessert was pretty boring.’
Warm-up exercise - Answers
(a) Mary: It’s pink!

(b) James: It would keep me awake all night. 1.There are many
(c) Jean: I’ve done the reading lists. ways of saying No.
(d) Terry: Well, Steve’s got those dogs now. 2. Yet no or not did not
appear in any of the
(e) Mike: Annie, cherry pie is cherry pie.
original responses.
3. You may have also found that you drew a

somewhat different inference for some of these
utterances.
4.These kinds of inferences are called
CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURES.
Exercise 1
Let us return to the original dialogues (a), (b), and (e). How do you think the first speaker
would interpret the second speaker’s response if you had the following extra information?
• Pink is Mary’s favourite colour and Virginia knows this.
• James has to stay up all night to study for an exam and Maggie knows this.
• Mike loves cherry pie. As far as he’s concerned, no one can ruin a cherry pie, and Annie
knows this.
(a) Virginia: Do you like my new hat?

Mary: It’s pink!
(b) Maggie: Coffee?
James: It would keep me awake all night.
(e) Annie: Was the dessert any good?
Mike: Annie, cherry pie is cherry pie.
Exercise 1 - Answers
Most people would now interpret the responses in (a), (b)
and (e) to mean ‘yes’.
As you can see, drawing the appropriate implicature can
require a considerable amount of shared knowledge
between the speaker and the hearer.
Yule (1996: 36) argues that “Implicatures are primary
examples of more being communicated than is said, but
in order for them to be interpreted, some basic cooperative
principle must first be assumed to be in operation”
Exercise 2
Read the following dialogue and identify the
communicative problem between the two interlocutors.
A woman is sitting on a park bench with a large dog lying by
her side. A man comes along and sits down on the bench.
Man: Does your dog bite?
Woman: No
(The man pets the dog and the dog bites his hand)
Man: Ouch! Hey! You said your dog doesn’t bite!
Woman: He doesn’t! But that’s not my dog!
Exercise 2 - Answers
Key: The woman did not provide

enough information, was not
cooperative enough in this exchange.
The assumption of cooperation in
conversation is usually so strong that
Paul Grice, a language philosopher,
posed the Cooperative Principle
and four subprinciples or maxims.
The Cooperative
Principle
“Make your contribution such as is

required, at the stage at which it
occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in
which you are engaged”
(Grice, 1975: 45)
Maxim of
Quantity
Maxim of Cooperative Maxim of

Manner Principle Quality
Maxim of
Relation
Grice’s Maxims
Maxim of Quantity
• Make your contribution as informative as required.
• Don’t talk for too long or for too little.
Maxim of Quality
• Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that
for which you lack adequate evidence.
• Be truthful.
Maxim of Relation
• Be relevant
Grice’s Maxims
Maxim of Manner
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief (avoid unnecesary prolixity).
Be orderly.
Be clear.
Exercise 3 – Listening & Speaking activity
Discuss the following dialogues with a partner. Identify
which maxims are broken in each case.
Example 1 [The one with the football]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVMWvTCAe_w [00:00 to 01:34]
Example 2 [The one with the worst best man ever]
Example 3 [Monica’s new roommate]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i91-toOhb0Y [00:00 – 01:42]
Exercise 3 – Answers
Example 1 [The one with the football]
Phoebe unconsciously breaks the Maxim of Relation since her
statement is not relevant at that moment.
Example 2 [The one with the worst best man ever]
Maxim of Manner.
Example 3 [Monica’s new roommate]
Maxim of Quantity & Manner – Rachel provides too much
information, she is not brief nor orderly.

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3.

Grice and the

Learning 2. Analyze how the violation of

1. Learn about Herbert Paul Grice

(a) Mary: It’s pink!

3. You may have also found that you drew a

(a) Virginia: Do you like my new hat?

Key: The woman did not provide

“Make your contribution such as is

Maxim of Cooperative Maxim of

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