15 http:psychology.jrank.orgpages2047implicature.html. It should be noted that
what is ‘suggested’ and what is ‘inferred’ should essentially be the same for a conversation to be effective. A misunderstanding occurs when what is ‘suggested’
and what is ‘inferred’ is not the same.
2. The Theory of Maxim Flouting
Based on the aforementioned Cooperative Principle, participants in a conversation will always keep the conversational maxims in mind. However, there
are instances where the maxims are not observed. The first group of speakers who fail to observe the maxims include young children and people with autism or other
conditions that impair their cognitive abilities. The other group, which becomes the focus of pragmatics analysis, consists of speakers who deliberately and
purposefully flout, the maxims. Flouting occurs when speakers appear not to
follow the maxims but expect hearers to appreciate the meaning implied Cutting 2002:37. Cruse further describes characteristics of flouting as follows:
a it is obvious to the hearer that the maxims are being flouted, b it is obvious to the hearer that the speaker intends the hearer to be
aware that the maxims are being flouted, and c there are no signs that the speaker is opting out the co-operative
principle Cruse 2006:360. Flouting is closely related to implicature, since through implicature,
hearers are able to infer and recover what meanings the speakers are actually trying to communicate. A person not familiar with how maxim is flouted in
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16 conversations would, therefore, misunderstand or find the maxim-flouting
utterance to be utterly incomprehensible.
The maxim of quantity can be flouted to invite a response from the hearer
through implicature, either to press the speaker for more information or to infer some information that the speaker does not want to say directly. For example,
when A asks How do I look? and B answers Your shoes are nice, A will infer that B thinks A does not look good overall without B actually needing to say it out
loud. The maxim of quantity can therefore be flouted by offering more or less than the information required which would then require the hearer to determine the
significance of the addition or subtraction to infer an implicature.
The maxim of quality can be flouted through hyperbole, metaphor, irony
or sarcasm, and banter to emphasize or to tone down the strength of the utterance so as not to offend the hearer. In essence, the maxim of quality is flouted
whenever a person deliberately says something that he knows hearers understand to be untrue. This way, he leads the hearers to infer that the implicature was
something of the opposite nature of what was spoken.
When the maxim of relationrelevance is flouted, the speaker expects the
hearer to be able to infer what the utterance did not say, and relate between the utterance and the preceding utterances. Often the relevance is found in the context
within which the speech is made, whether culture, regional convention, or, more intimately, shared information between speakers.
The maxim of manner is normally flouted to exclude a third party
listening to the conversation, or to lead the hearer to imply that what is spoken has
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17 bigger repercussions beyond the literal mess of words used. Levinson gave this
sentence as example of flouting of this maxim, Miss Singer produced a series of sounds corresponding closely to the score of an aria from ‘Rigoletto.
, playfully providing the implicature that Miss Singer sang badly. 1983: 108
3. Context in Communication
