5
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the introduction of the study, two guiding questions for this paper have thus been formulated as follows:
1. What are the maxim-flouting utterances in House, M.D.? 2. What are the implicatures of those maxim-flouting utterances?
C. Objectives of the Study
This paper is written in order to contribute to the understanding of applied English pragmatics in actual communication, especially regarding maxim
flouting. This study would be very helpful for English majors who wish to understand not only the format of the language they are learning but also how to
appropriately use and comprehend utterances that do not seem to make sense on the surface. It will also help shed light on how the natives of the language really
use the language in their daily lives, including the contexts that the natives employed in order to understand each other’s utterances. This will therefore be
particularly helpful for people who are expecting to work in America or other English speaking countries or who are expecting guests from the countries
mentioned in the near future, should the need arise to manage appropriate conversations.
The insight provided by this paper would also benefit students of the faculty of English Education of Sanata Dharma University or of any university.
It is a common fact that the enthusiasm in learning English has shifted towards
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
6 learning a more realistic English language use. Formal tests like TOEFL® and
IELTS® adopting a more contemporary day-to-day-use form of language has also driven learners to seek authenticity in language learning. Therefore, having a
comprehensive understanding of English pragmatics including the operation of maxim flouting, which is the point of discussion of this study would enable
English Education students to more appropriately fulfill the increasing demand for authentic English learning.
D. Research Limitations
In its investigation into the workings of English pragmatics via analysis of the dialogues in the House, M.D. television drama, this paper will mainly concern
itself with the implicatures of utterances that flouted maxims – that would otherwise be incomprehensible without the use of pragmatics. In other words, it
would limit its focus only on the analysis of maxim-flouting utterances. This study will, however, exclude maxim violations and maxim infringing.
Maxim violations lead to deception, while maxim infringing simply comes from failure to observe maxims, which would generally lead to miscommunications.
Neither deception
nor miscommunication
demonstrates an
effective communication, which meant that studying them would not help achieve the goal
of this study. This paper will not perform a literature investigation into the characters of
the individuals who produced the utterances selected for scrutiny. It will, however, utilize general information regarding the characters which would be
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
7 available in chapter III: Methodology, but only to the extent necessary for
reconstructing a context around the utterances to be analyzed. This is also important as to not avert the focus of the study from linguistics.
It is important to note also that this study and its results thereof only claims relevance over its object of study, the maxim-floutings in the episode of
“Occam’s Razor” of House, M.D.. This study does not claim to be authoritative on general English pragmatics, and whatever inferences regarding the general
practice of maxim flouting in its conclusion are speculative in nature. The study recognizes that the inferences drawn could be helpful in
comprehending an otherwise befuddling conversation, but maintains that they should, by no means be regarded as dogmatic, considering that the use of
language varies in different locations, societies, and era.
E. Definition of terms 1. Pragmatics
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