Characters Definition of Terms

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b. Maxims of Conversation

The principle states that the speaker gives contribution in conversation in which the speaker is engaged. This cooperative principle contains four categories, which are formulated as basic rules or maxims. Maxim is a set of norms which language users adhere to in order to uphold the effectiveness and efficiency of communication Hatim Mason, 1990, p. 242. Those four maxims are maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of relevance, and maxim of manner. a. Maxim of quantity demands the speaker’s contribution is informative as is required and no more informative than is required. Example of obeying: A: “Where are you going?” B: “I’m going to the post office.” In the example, B gives comments to A’s statement without adding other information. b. Maxim of quality requires the speaker not to say what is believed to be false and for which the speaker lacks adequate evidence. Example of obeying: A: “Why did you come late last night?” B: “The car was broken down” In t he example, B gives the truth that his car was broken down so that he came late. c. Maxim of relevance required the speaker to be relevant. Example of obeying: A: “Where is my box of chocolates?” B: “It is in your room.” In the example, B’s reply is related to the question, not talking about something else. 12 d. Maxim of Manner requires the speaker to avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity. Maxim of manner demands the speaker to be brief and orderly. Example of obeying: A: Where was Alfred yesterday? B: Alfred went to the store and bought some whiskey. In the example, B’s answer obeys the maxim of manner: be orderly, because she gives a clear explanation where A was. Levinson 1983 states that, Grice’s maxims above specify what participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, and cooperative way: the participant should speak sincerely, relevantly, and clearly while providing sufficient information p. 103. In this study, the writer tries to use some theories that can help the reader in knowing the utterances based on the maxims of conversation.

c. Conversational Implicature

In daily life, a person unconsciously communicates with others in many ways such as language, gestures and expressions. In communication, he or she is expected to give or share information with others. According to Mey 2001, implicature is derived from the word that implies something like expressing an idea or feeling without saying it directly to the hearer para. 45. The philosophical approach of Grice to conversation added further dimensions to a research of the language use by introducing the notion of implicatures. Whereas, traditional approaches in semantics, philosophy and logic sentences, stated that implicatures are less strict inferences based on contextual conditions. Grice also formulated what he called maxims as principles of conversational cooperation, 13 such as telling the truth, saying no more and no less than necessary, being relevant and being clear. Most of these norms pertain to text and talk itself such as avoiding ambiguity or speaking relevantly and hence-coherently, but again with a strong contextual dimension of speaking appropriately. This is the example of the connection between implicature and conversational maxims, and cooperative principle: A: where is my book? B: your young sister is drawing something. Based on the examples above, Grice’s cooperative principle and the four maxims aimed to make the conversation effective. B did not answer A with the right amount of information and the answer is not relevant to the question. B gave the answer which implied something indirectly.

d. Context of Utterance

In the conversation, a context is very important in a sentence or utterance. The context would be different in many ways based on the situation or social condition in speaking. In the context of the utterance, there is an aspect which can be the criteria in conversations. According to Leech 1983, the context is any background of knowledge assumed to be shared by the speaker and hearer which contributes to the hearer’s interpretation of what speaker means by a given utterance. Therefore, the context is important in an utterance to derive relevant meaning to the hearer.