behind them and he was listening to their conversation. Then, they were very shocked when suddenly Alan said
“Yes, I call her Doodle.” In respond to this, Michael immediately said that he called his wife as
“Darjeeling”, like the name of the tea. In fact, he never called his wife as
“Darjeeling.” He told a lie because he wanted to cover up his mistake to Alan.
The datum below is another example of the phenomenon of violation of quality maxim.
4:38 Michaels Mother : This a bad time?
Michael Longstreet : No. Well, we got some friends over but go
ahead.
PPC052 In this example, Michael was talking to his mother via telephone. She
asked to him whether it was a bad time to call him or not. Michael thought that it was not a good time to call him because he had some guests in his house.
However, he decided to answer “no” and violated the maxim of quality. He
violated this maxim by not telling the truth that it was not the right time to call him. He ignored the maxim of quality because he did not want to hurt his
mother’s feeling.
b. Violation of relation maxim
In reference to the findings, the occurrence of violation of relation maxim is in the highest position with percentage 57.14 and 12 occurrences.
One example that shows an expression of violation of relation maxim is presented as follows.
4:39 Michael Longstreet : I cant understand why youre wasting yourself, right out in the open, darjeeling.
Penelope Longstreet: Shut the hell up. Michael Longstreet: Take one cigar, Alan. Relax.
PPC067 Michael, Penelope, Alan and Nancy were arguing each other.
Therefore, to make the situation better, Michael as the owner of the house gave a cigar to Alan. Michael violated the maxim of relation by changing the topic
of the conversation because all of the people in the living room did not feel comfortable with the topic being discussed. Thus, he made a new topic by
giving a cigar to Alan. The following conversation gives another example of violation of
relation maxim. 4:40 Nancy Cowan : Why do you put me through this, Alan?
Alan Cowan :
Relax, Doodle.
PPC070 The conversation between Nancy and Alan occurred in the living room
of the Longstreets’ home. Alan made his wife angry. Thus, he tried to make her
relax by calling her as “Doodle,” the favourite name to call his wife. However,
he violated the maxim of relation by giving irrelevant answer to Nancy’s
question. Previously, Nancy asked him “Why do you put me through this,
Alan?” He did not give the right answer and only responded to his wife’s question by saying
“Relax, Doodle.” Thus, Alan had violated the maxim of relation by changing the topic of the conversation.
Another example also shows that Alan has violated the maxim of relation as it is shown in datum below.
