47 Monica
: Thats terrible. Mr. Treeger
: I know. I was sweeping yesterday. It coulda been me. Ross
: Sure, you coulda. You never know. Mr. Treeger
: You never know. Mr. Treeger violated the maxim of Quality by giving a statement that is
lack of adequate evidence. Mr. Treeger did not see what was happening before Mr. Heckels died; he just got the information from the officers, who found a
broom in Mr, Heckels’ hand. From the fact, Mr. Treeger concluded that Mr. Heckels died because of sweeping. When Rachel asked him how that happened,
he said He musta been sweeping. They found a broom in his hand.
It becomes funny, because, normally, sweeping is not the reason why somebody dies.
b. Violating Maxim of Quantity
The analyzing of the violating maxim of Quantity is based on the two specific maxims that are i giving less information than is required and ii giving
more information than is required Grice, 1989. See the case of violating maxim of Quantity by giving a contribution that is less informative than is required
in order to mislead the hearer:
EXCERPT 1.2 In Monica and Rachels apartment, the gang is waiting for Rachel to
return from the airport with Ross. Phoebe keeps saying the fact that Rachel is at the airport for picking Ross up and tell the truth about her
feeling is bigger than huge. She cannot find what word equal to ‘bigger than huge’. She is asking and Joey tries to answer.
Monica : Im telling you, she went to the airport, and shes gonna go for it with Ross
Phoebe : Oh my god. This is huge. This is bigger than huge. This is like, all right, whats bigger than huge?
Joey : Um, this?
Phoebe : Yes.
48 Joey who was confused what was the word which was bigger than huge,
only said um, this?. This refers to the fact that Rachel was at the airport for
picking Ross up and telling the truth. He was violating the maxim of Quantity because he did not give enough information that Phoebe needed, or in other words
he did not answer the question sophistically. It becomes funny when Phoebe agreed and thought that he was right.
The case of violating maxim of Quantity by giving contribution that is more informative than is required
in order to mislead the hearer:
EXCERPT 7.7 Central Perk, everyone is there except Ross. He is kissing Julie outside the
window and Rachel is looking at them. Everyone knows that she always jealous when Ross with Julie. That day, Rachel says she does not care
about Ross anymore, she has a date tonight. Everyone is surprised, because they thought Rachel cannot stop thinking about Ross.
Joey
: Woah, woah, woah, you have a date? Rachel : Yeah, Monicas settin me up.
Joey : But uh, uh, what about uh, Ross and uh. . .
Rachel : Oh what, my whole insane jealousy thing? Well, yknow, as much fun as that was, Ive decided to opt for sanity.
Chandler : So you really Okay about all this? Rachel : Oh yeah, cmon, Im movin on. He can press her up against
that window as much as he wants. For all I care, he can throw her through the damn thing.
The excerpt showed that Chandler and everyone wanted to know about Rachel’s feeling after seeing Ross with Julie kissing outside the window. Rachel
violated the maxim of Quantity by adding an unimportant statement when she answered Chandler’s question. Rachel’s statement was as follow,
Oh, yeah c’mon. I’m moving on was enough to answer the question, and she did not need to add
other statements.
49
c. Violating Maxim of Relevance
