4.3.4 Violation of Manner Maxim
This maxim concerns with how a speaker should deliver hisher contribution in a quoted in a verbal interaction. Grice 1975, as quoted by Mey,
describes the maxim as ‘Be perspicuous and specific, i.e. a Avoid obscurity of expression, b Avoid ambiguity, c Be brief, d Be orderly. Accordingly, if we
said something unclearly we would violate manner maxim. Manner maxim is regarded as an excessive maxim in Grice’s Cooperative Principle. According to
Leech 1983, there are some linguists that consider this maxim as more than enough. He also states that this maxim is different from the others. While other
say maxim ‘what to speak’, manner maxims say ‘how to speak’. The violation of manner maxim is often meant to be polite.
30.Data 30
At the beginning of the school year, I mentioned to a grade student that he’d grown a lot since I’d seen him the year before.
“I’ve been doing a lot of that, growing and shrinking.” Puzzled, I asked what he meant. “Well, I used to be up my big broth’s nose,”
he replied. “But now I’m only up to his chin.”
At the beginning of the school year, the writer meets a student of that school. They have a discussion about their growth. That student tells that he has
been growing and shrinking in a year. The writer is confused with his utterance. Then the writer asks him what he means. That student then explains that he used
to be taller than his big brother’ nose but now he is only up to his big brother’s chin.
From data above, it can be seen that the explanation of that student is not
clear. For the writer that explanation is a confusing explanation. It can be seen from the sentence “Puzzled, I asked what he meant.” Then the student explains
what he meant. The student’s utterance “Well, I used to be up my big broth’s nose. But now I’m only up to his chin.” in data above has declarative function
which describes his growth a year ago and now comparing to his big brother growth. It violates maxim of manners since it has ambiguous contribution. That
student gives confusing information. He does not tell clearly which part of his body that is growing and shrinking to the writer. He should give information more
detail about which part of body that is growing and shrinking. The doctor’s utterance which violates maxim of manner causes
conversational implicature. The inference of the violation can be concluded that he thinks there is something goes wrong with his growth. He fells his growth is
less than his big brother’s growth. He wants to tell that his growth is stagnant but not his big brother growth. It can be seen that he used to be up his big brother’s
nose but now he is only up to his big brother’s chin. Generally, the younger child will grow more and more compared to his or her brother and sister. However, it
does not happen to him.
31. Data 31
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