40 Friends. The discussions on the cases were preceded by samples of short
conversations from the script that are tagged as ‘excerpt’
.
1. Flouting Maxims on Sitcom
Friends
Grice 1989 says that if someone flouts a maxim, it means that heshe deliberately fails to fulfill the maxims. The speaker is not trying to mislead the
hearer, but the utterance implicates another meaning. In this case, conversational
implicature is used to see the meaning of utterances, so the conversation could become effective.
In sitcom Friends, the characters were frequently flouting the maxims. The
four maxims of conversation had been flouted. Moreover, the flouting maxims had successfully produced humorous effects for audiences. The findings can seen
on the following paragraphs.
a. Flouting the Maxim of Quality
There are two specific maxims under this super maxim. They are i telling what you believe to be false and ii telling something without enough evidences
or knowledge Grice, 1989. Both examples of the cases for this maxim are provided, first is flouting by telling what you believe to be false
EXCERPT 3.1
[Chandler is coming from his date while everyone is playing poker in Monica and Rachel’s apartment. Chandler is a type of a man who cannot
accept the unusual physical thing from a woman. He doesn’t like hairy fingers, a big nose, a big head, etc. That day, Chandler is dating a woman
with the big nostril, so the gang is eager to know what happen in his date] Chandler : Hey.
All
: Hey
41 Monica : So how was Joan?
Chandler : I broke up with her. Ross
: Don’t tell me, because of the big nostril thing?
Chandler: They were huge. When she sneezed, bats flew out of them.
Chandler flouted the maxim of Quality because he said what he believed to be false. His girlfriend Joan indeed had big nostrils, but Chandler seemed that
the word big was not enough to describe the size of the nostrils. To show his friends that they were bigger, he said T
hey were huge. When she sneezed, bats flew out of them. He did not say the truth by telling everyone that bats were
flowing out when Joan Sneezed, it was just an expression to show the others that the nostril were big enough to make him broke up with Joan.
The second one is flouting by telling something without enough evidence or knowledge
:
EXCERPT 1.4 Rachel went to the airport to pick up Ross, but she saw him with a girl.
She is so shocked and confused. Rachel runs along the hallway to get into the apartment before Ross and tries to tell everyone what happened in the
airport. But because of running, nervous, and disbelief of what she saw she is entering the room with out of breath.
Rachel
: Airport, airport. Ross, not alone, Julie, arm around her. Cramp, cramp.
Chandler : Ok, I think shes trying to tell us something. Quick, get
the verbs .
The words I think indicate that the speaker is not sure because heshe does
not have enough evidence to proof. In this case, Chandler broke the maxim of Quality by saying
I think she’s trying to tell us something… Although Chandler seemed that he was not sure what Rachel was doing, but it was clear that everyone
42 knew that Rachel was trying to tell something to others, including Chandler. Here,
Chandler was flouting a maxim to make a fun of Rachel.
b. Flouting the Maxim of Quantity
