high level, theoretical and metatheoretical speculation.
15
In pragmatics, principles prefer to work; the next will examine some principles, namely the communicative
principle, the cooperative principle and politeness principle.
1. The Communicative Principle
People talk with the intention to communicate something to somebody; this is the foundation of all linguistics behavior. This is called the Communicative
Principle , even though this principle is not mentioned in the pragmatic literature,
it is nevertheless the hidden condition for all human pragmatic activity, and the silently agreed on promise of our investigation into such activity.
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2. The Cooperative Principle
The philosopher H. P. Grice developed a cooperative principle which he considers, underlies successful verbal communication. That is, in normal
circumstances, that these are the ground rules that we observe when speaking and interpreting utterances. The cooperative principle states: Make your contribution
such as required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.
On the assumption that some such general principle as this is acceptable, one may perhaps distinguish four categories
under one of another of which will full certain more specific maxims and sub maxims, the following of which will, in general, yield results in accordance with
the cooperative principle. Grice call these categories Quantity, Quality, Relation and Manner.
17
15
Jacob L Mey, 2001, Op.cit. p.67.
16
Ibid, pp. 68-69.
17
H.P Grice, 1975, Op.cit, pp.45-47.
I The maxim of quantity:
give the right amount of information: a.
Make your contribution as informative as required. b.
Do not make your contribution more informative than required.
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For example: [1] a. As you probably know, I am terrified of bugs.
b. So, to cut a long story short, we grabbed out stuff and ran.
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II The maxim of quality: try to make your contribution one that is true:
a. Do not say what you believe to be false.
b. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
20
For example: [2] a. As far as I know, they’re married.
b. He couldn’t live without her, I guess.
21
III The maxim of relation:
make your contribution relevant.
22
For example: [3] a. I don’t know if this is important, but some of the files are missing.
b. Not to change the subject, but is this related to the budget?
23
IV The maxim of manner: Be perspicuous, and specially:
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a. Avoid obscurity
b. Avoid ambiguity
c. Be brief
18
Ibid
19
George Yule, 1996, Op.cit, .p.38.
20
H.P Grice, 1975, Loc.cit.
21
George Yule, 1996, Loc.cit.
22
H.P Grice, 1975, Loc.cit.
23
George Yule, 1996, Op.cit, .p.39.
24
H.P Grice, 1975, Loc.cit.
d. Be orderly
For example: [4] a. This may be a bit confused, but I remember being in a car.
b. I’m not sure if this makes sense, but the car had no lights.
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3. The Politeness Principles
