65 2
Uttering ambiguous sentences Secondly, the following excerpt illustrated the violation of the first sub
maxim of maxim manner by using ambiguous utterance.
S02E12MNVL10 Down at the bar, Barney drops some knowledge that according to him relationships are
like a freeway. In fact, in previous month, he told Marshall that relationships are like a travelling circus.
1 Barney: Freeways have exits. So do relationships. The first exit, my personal favorite, is
six hours in. you meet, you talk you have sex, you exit when she’s in the shower. 2
Robin: So every girl you have sex with feels the immediate need to shower? Actually yeah I get that.
The excerpt above illustrated the utterances which were ambiguous in two different meaning. The conversation chanced when Barney took the floor to drop
the knowledge of relationships. He did not select specifically the next speaker to take the turn. Afterward, Robin took a chance to speak and to give a feedback. In
her utterance “So every girl you have sex with feels the immediate need to shower? Actually yeah I get that.” however turned out to be ambiguous. Although she
intended the hearers to infer the faced-value meaning, her construction was ambiguous. In her utterance, she possibly had ever had sex with Barney, so it was
reasonable to infer that she felt the immediate need to shower, or she possibly understood face-to-face that the girl whom Barney had sex with felt the immediate
need to have shower after sex. Consequently, in terms of CP, she violated maxim of manner Khosravizadeh Sadehvandi, 2011, p. 123.
66 3
Being not brief Third, the maxim of manner was violated by not being brief as appeared in
the following excerpt:
S02E05MNVL3 Barney’s apartment, after his one-night stand.
1 Barney: That was close. That hippie chick wouldn’t leave. She was ready to squat here.
2 Lily: Well, she’d have to with your spring-loaded toilet seat, wouldn’t she?
3 Barney: She was freakishly immune to everything in my apartment…except you. You’re
better than porn. 4
Lily: Thank you. 5
Barney: How would you like to extend your stay here? All you’d have to do is pretend to be my wife, and scare off the occasional one-night stand. I know, I know. You’ve got your
ethics. You’ve got your principles…. 6
Lily: I’ll do it. 7
Barney: really? 8
Lily: Barney, you’ve clearly got some serious mother issues that have left you the emotional equivalent of a scavenging sewer rat. But in other my apartment I would
be living with an actual scavenging sewer rat, so you win.
9
Barney: I’ll take it.
The conversation occurred after Barney was released from a girl he slept
with the night before. Barney was used to have one night stand which was his favorite. At the time, he got a situation that the particular girl would not leave his
apartment. In other situation, Lily got her own situation in her apartment where many rats living. Regarding, Lily was the effective weapon to expel the one-night-
stand girl. The interesting focus of the current conversation was when Barney initiated to get the floor to open a talk with Lily with an offer-acceptance sequence.
On her eighth turn, Lily responded to Barney’s inquiry. Through her utterance, she expected Barney to infer the intention at the face value that his current
issues were equivalent with the scavenging sewer rats’ issues existing in Lily’s apartment. Besides, Barney was expected to infer that Lily agreed to prolong the
stay because she wanted to help. However, Lily indeed wanted to stay out of her own apartment because there were actual sewer rats in her apartment which was
67 unsettling for her and yet she sheltered the truth for herself. Constructively, Lily’s
utterance was extremely long and unnecessary. It was obviously no accident nor through any inability to speak clearly. Therefore, the speaker failed to observe the
maxim of manner Tupan and Natalia, 2008, p. 66. 4
Uttering unordered information Fourth, maxim of manner could be violated by failing the utterance with
unordered information. In consequence, the hearer might be misunderstood and confused.
S02E15MNVL14 The gang are down at the bar. Marshall came with broken leg,
1
Barney: Here’s how you run a marathon. Step one, you start running. pausing there is no step two.
The excerpt above described the violation maxim of manner done by
Barney. Structurally, there was a pause within Barney’s utterance because he got no idea what to be the next steps. In his utterance, Barney informed the step how to
run the marathon. Informing step-by-step should be in a well order and clear instruction, it should begin with the very first sequence followed up with the further
sequences or from the start to the finish in order to construct a well-ordered instruction. In contrary, Barney did not inform in the way it was supposed to be, yet
he seemed to master less information. In terms of CP, Barney violated maxim of manner because he did not construct his utterance in a good order which confused
the hearers Khosravizadeh Sadehvandi, 2011, p. 123.
68
d. Violating Multiple maxims
In addition, one excerpt can also be a case of a multiple violation. A multiple violation occurred when the speaker violated more than one maxim simultaneously
Tupan and Natalia, 2008, p. 64. 1
Violating maxims of quality and relevance
S02E11QL-RLVL At the bar, Robin, Ted and Barney. Barney got fever but he denied
1 Ted: Are you sick?
2 Barney: Is it sick to find maturity and experience sexy?
3 Ted: No, I meant do you have a cold?
4
Barney: I’m fine. – I’m fine. My nose is just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out. – Now, if you’ll excuse me, the holidays are a time when people are
lonely and desperate. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
The excerpt above showed the violation multiple maxims of quality and relevance. The conversation chanced when Ted noticed that Barney got fever.
Incongruously, Barney uttered an irrelevant response in return. Barney was trying to mislead Ted by altering the meaning of ‘sick’ into another meaning. Sourcing
from the www.urbandictionary.com, the word ‘sick’ in US is usually used when something is cool or exciting “Sick”. The meaning of which has allied meaning
with Barney’s definition. Through his utterance, Barney was trying to evade the question by altering the topic. Being aware of the misunderstanding, Ted
recomposed the more simply comprehensible question. As the exchange to Ted’s inquiry, Barney blatantly hid the truth by uttering “I’m fine. – I’m fine.”
Accordingly, he violated maxim of quality. His utterance
“
My nose is just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out.” in terms of CP was
obscure. Besides, he tried to evade current topic and a question by uttering “Now, if you’ll excuse me, the holidays are a time when people are lonely and desperate.
69 It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” It which was ironic to depict his own
contradictory situation, that he was single and circled by a coupled friend. Consequently, he violated multiple maxims.
2 Violating maxims of quality and quantity
S02E12QL-QNVL 1
Barney: The next exits are four days, three weeks, seven months – that’s when you guys are gonna break up, mark your calendars. talk to both Robin and Ted
2 Ted: Hey
3
Robin: What? talk in the same time
The humorous excerpt above apparently illustrated the violation of maxim of quality. This happens when the friends were down at the bar and Barney drops
some knowledge that according to him relationships were like a freeway. Structurally, the overlap chanced when Ted and Robin react verbally to Barney’s
assertion at the same time. The interest in the excerpt lays on a pair initiated by Barney with his statement about when the relationship would over and the tokens
of Ted and Robin as the exchange. When someone was telling information which was universal for audiences, the teller was supposed to deliver it neutrally and
impersonally. However, in his above utterance, Barney blatantly added an information which in current purpose of communication was unnecessary to the
hearers, explicitly Ted and Robin as a couple. Barney was also lacking of adequate and sufficient evidences to prove him right, that Ted and Robin would end their
relationship within seven months. Accordingly, Barney deliberately violated maxim of quantity and quality Tupan and Natalia, 2008, p. 64.
3 Violating maxim quality and manner
The last variant of multiple violation discovered in this research was the violation maxims of quality and manner.
70
S02E09QLVL7
1 Barney: Fine. Do you wanna know what Robin’s secret is?
2
Ted: You know?
3
Barney: Of course I know. She couldn’t look at us, her face got flushed, that’s shame, my friend. Our friend Robin used to do porn, what for it… ography.
4 Ted: Yeah, we didn’t really need to wait for that.
The conversation above arouse when the friends found that Ted’s girlfriend, Robin, had been keeping her past life underground before she went to New York.
Her friends and even her boyfriend got clueless about her past. Barney, Ted, Marshall and Lily tried to solve the Robin’s puzzle. Barney came out with his
hypothesis that Robin used to do pornography. The indication which Barney exposed to prove him right about Robin’s past, however, was insufficient. If
somebody got flushed with embarrassment, the closest perception upon it did not always signify pornography. In this case, Barney’s perception was affected by his
most interest which was sex. However, the truth about Robin’s puzzle was she used to be a pop star in Canada. In this excerpt, the violation maxim of quality occurred
when Barney uttered his own hypothesis without sufficient evidences to build his friends belief. Furthermore, maxim of manner was violated when Barney used
initiation “wait for it” within the word “Pornography”.
3. Analysis on a Situation which Infringes Maxims
The analysis resulted the minorities. One of which was the infringement. This one of ways of failing maxims was described as follows:
S02E02IF01 Lily, Ted and Robin were having breakfast at the restaurant. Robin was still drunk when
the waiter served the menu. 1
Robin talking to the waiter: I’d take you with gravy. If my boyfriend wasn’t sitting right here. – Just kidding. I’m good.
2 Lily: What are you so chirpy about?
3 Ted: She’s still drunk from last night.
4
Robin: I don’t think so. Whoo