Analysis of Non-Observance of Gricean Conversational Maxims in The TV Series 'Monk' (Season 1-5) in Building Suspense.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………. ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study………………………………………............. 1
Statement of the Problems……………………………………………… 4
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………. 4
Method of Research…………………………………………………….. 5
Organization of the Thesis……………………………………………… 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Conversational Implicature…………………………………………. 6
2.1.1 Conventional Implicature………………......................................... 6
2.1.2 Cooperative Principle……………………………………………... 7
2.2 Conversational Maxim………………………………….................... 7
2.2.1 Maxim of Quantity………………………………………………... 7
2.2.2 Maxim of Quality………………………………………………….. 8
2.2.3 Maxim of Relation…………………………………………………. 8
3.2.4 Maxim of manner………………………………………………….. 8
3.3 Non-observance of the Maxim………………………………………. 8
2.3.1 Flouting a maxim………………………………………………….. 8
2.3.2 Violaing a maxim………………………………………………….. 9
2.3.3 Infringing a maxim…………………………………………………10
2.3.4 Opting out of the maxim……………………………………………10
2.3.5 Suspending a maxim………………………………………………. 10
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CHAPTER THREE:
ANALYSIS OF NON-OBSERVANCE OF
GRICEAN MAXIMS IN THE TV SERIES
MONK ( SEASONS 1-5 ) IN BUILDING
SUSPENSE………………………………………..
12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION………………………………………
38
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..
42
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………
43
iii
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ABSTRACT
Dalam Tugas Akhir yang berjudul Analysis of Non-Observance Gricean
Conversational Maxims in the TV Series Monk (seasons 1-5) in Building Suspense,
saya menganalisis beberapa situasi di mana seseorang tidak mengikuti atau
memperhatikan bidal. Saya mengambil data dari film seri televisi Monk. Dalam film
tersebut seorang detektif menginterogasi seorang tersangka dalam kasus pembunuhan.
Dalam interogasi tersebut, tersangka melanggar bidal. Akibat pelanggaran bidal ini,
penonton menjadi penasaran, tegang dan ingin mengetahui siapa pembunuh
sebenarnya dan apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya pada cerita tersebut.
Tugas Akhir ini bertujuan untuk memberitahu bahwa dalam berkomunikasi,
terkadang seorang penutur mempunyai maksud tertentu yang harus diinterpretasikan
oleh mitra tutur. Hal ini terjadi karena seorang penutur tidak selalu menyampaikan
apa yang ingin ia sampaikan secara langsung dalam berkomunikasi.
iv
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APPENDIX
NO
DATA
1
Monk : He is the guy.
Sharona : How do we know this?
Monk : Wedding ring. He cheats on his wife.
Sharona : So, how could he have killed her? He
cannot be in the two places at once.
Monk : I know. It is impossible but he is the
guy.
2
Monk : Did you know Beth Landow was
pregnant when she died?
Mr. Philby : No, I did not but that would
explain why she jumped. Wouldn’t it? The
baby’s father, whoever he was must have run
out from her, huh?
Monk: You were the father.
Mr. Philby: unfortunately you cannot prove
that, Mr. Monk.
Monk : Do you remember the guy we met the
other day? Daniel Carlyle? Well, that was not
the real Daniel Carlyle. The guy lies about
playing a violin.
Natalie : He was not a violinist?
Monk : I remember something, he said that
we interrupted his rehearsal, remember? But
the violin bow in his hand was loose, so he
could not been playing. He said that he had a
concert that night, but there is nothing in the
schedule.
Natalie : The bow was loose?
Monk : I think we met his brother.
Natalie : But why would they be lying?
Monk : The real Daniel Carlyle is dead. And
his mother and brother killed hm.
3
43
TYPE OF
MAXIM
Maxim of
quality
TYPE OF NONOBSERVANCE
Flouting a maxim
Maxim of Violating a
maxim
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Maxim of
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Flouting a maxim
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4
Monk : I hear you spent some time up there Maxim of manner
with Ray Kaspo.
Spyder : Where did you hear that?
Monk : Around. Is it true?
Spyder : Maybe yes, maybe no.
Opting out of
a maxim
Violating a
maxim
5
Monk: Do you have access to the storage Maxim of
room?
quantity
Frank Frager: I did not have a key or
anything but it would have been easy
enough to break in.
6
Monk: You killed Clea Vance a year ago Maxim of relation Violating a
and you killed Natasia Zorelle last night, do
maxim
not you?
Julian Hodge: Oh and why would I do
something like that?
7
Monk: Roger, you know Debbie Barnet, Maxim of relation Violating a
right? Did you know she was pregnant?
maxim
Roger: You are talking to a married man.
Monk: Did you know she was pregnant?
Roger: How would I know that?
8
Monk: Because she was about to go to Maxim of relation Violating a
public. She was about to tell the truth about
maxim
you. That is why you killed her, isn’t it?
Steve Wagner: I was on a spaceship,
circling the earth with my crew.
9
Captain: Do you know a woman named
Joanne Raphelson?
Steve Wagner: She is dead, isn’t she?
Randy : You are not surprised?
Steve Wagner: Joanne has been depressed
for months. She was about to have a book
published, but somehow that made it worse.
44
Maxim of
relation
Maxim of
quantity
Violating a
maxim
Flouting a
maxim
Violating a
maxim
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10
Monk: Where were you when he was Maxim of
singing?
relation
Kriss Kedder: Where were you?
Violating a
maxim
Opting out of
a maxim
11
Natalie: Dr. Beneth, were you in the Marina
Wednesday morning? You do keep a boat
there, right?
Dr. Beneth: I don’t think I should talk about
this.
12
Monk: You used to work in Mendocino, Maxim of relation Violating a
right?
maxim
Sharkey: A lot of people live in Mendocino.
13
.Monk: Are you going to see Mr. Goodman Maxim of relation Flouting a maxim
later?
Ms. Claire: Why do you ask?
Monk : Well, if you see him, you know. Just
would you tell him to call me? Because I
just…I would love to talk to him. You
know, if you see him.
Ms. Claire : Are you accusing me of
something?
14
Monk : You did not do anything?
The police : Hand to God. He starts throwing
himself around. He is screaming “Help! Help!
He is going to kill me.” So, the operator shut
down the rig, I get off. I walk 10 feet. I hear
screaming I turn around and there is gitomer
on the deck with a knife in his chest.
Monk: Whose knife was it?
The police: Not a clue.
45
Opting out of a
maxim
Maxim of
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Flouting a maxim
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Communication is a tool that transfers information from a speaker to a
listener. Considering that a human being is a social creature, every human being
needs to communicate with each other. Through communication, people express
what they want. Besides, through communication people can make a lot of friends.
Therefore, communication is important for people both to convey their message in
their interactions and socialize with others.
Seeing that people are not always cooperative in a conversation, I would
like to discuss the non-observance of maxims in speech. The title of my thesis is
Analysis of Non-Observance of Gricean Maxims in the TV Series “Monk”
(seasons1-5) in Building Suspense. This title is derived from a general topic,
conversational implicature, which is focused on a specific one: suspense that is
created by non-observing the conversational maxim. This topic belongs to
pragmatics, which is concerned with “the study of meaning as communicated
by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener.” (Yule 3)
1
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Owing to the fact that people are not always cooperative in speaking, a
listener sometimes has to interpret the speaker’s intended meaning. There are
some reasons why people choose not to be cooperative. It happens because they
choose to mislead or deceive the listener intentionally as to make suspense occur.
Suspense is ”a state of mental uncertainty, excitement or indecision which
involves awaiting an outcome or decision, is derived from Latin words meaning
‘hanging up’ and therefore left undecided. Suspense refers to the anticipation of
readers (or of an audience) concerning the outcome events in a novel, story or
play. Suspense is a quality of tension in a plot which sustain interest and makes
readers ask what happen next?” (Shaw 365-366)
When the speaker and listener are having a conversation, they have to
cooperate with each other. The conversation will be successful when there is
collaboration between the speaker and the listener. In everyday conversation,
people sometimes mean more than what they say. In order to get the speaker’s
intended meaning, the listener has to consider that “the speaker intends to
communicate more than is said.” (Yule 35)
In conversation, a speaker’s message is sometimes not found directly so
that the hearer has to find out the message that the speaker wants to convey. This
is known as Conversational Implicature. The theory of implicature was proposed
by H. P. Grice in 1976. (Thomas 56, 57)
I choose non-observance of maxims as my topic because in everyday
conversation people sometimes do not really understand what a speaker means in
a particular context. So, the listener has to get the speaker’s intended meaning.
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When the listener does not get the speaker’s meaning, misunderstanding occurs.
The basic purpose for analyzing the conversational maxim is to make people
aware that sometimes the speaker does not utter what he or she means directly.
The reason I choose Monk instead of other detective movies as the source
of data is that in most episodes of this film the non-observance of conversational
maxims creates suspense. The non-observance of maxims is mostly created when
the main character, Monk, is interrogating the suspect. When the suspect is being
interrogated by Monk or other police officers, he or she always tries to mislead or
hide something. This is how the non-observance of maxims occurs.
My data consists of five seasons of Monk TV series. In each season there
are sixteen episodes. Almost in each episode the non-observance of maxims
occurs. The non-observance of maxims is mostly produced by the murderer or the
suspect when they are interrogated by the main character or other police officers.
My thesis is significant to make people understand that they do not always
say what they actually mean. This study will make them more aware that
sometimes in conversation they have to get the speaker’s intended meaning and
they sometimes have to guess what the speaker means. This study can help them
to notice that sometimes the speaker tries to mislead the listener or lie to the
listener on purpose. Thus, hopefully both the speaker and the listener will be able
to understand each other’s real meaning in a particular context of the utterances.
Word Count: 701 words.
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Statement of the Problem
In this thesis, I will discuss:
1. Which type of non-observance of the maxim does the speaker do?
2. What kind of conversational maxim does the speaker fail to observe?
3. Why does the character fail to observe the conversational maxim?
4. How does failing to observe a maxim create suspense?
Purpose of the Study
By doing this research, I intend:
1. To find out which type of non-observance of maxim that the character do.
2. To find out what kind of conversational maxims that the character fails to
observe.
3. To know why they fail to observe the conversational maxim.
4. To know how failing to observe a conversational maxim creates suspense.
Method of the Research
First, I search for the data. After I get the data, I try to find out which
conversational maxims that the characters fail to observe. Then I find the reason
why they fail to observe the conversational maxims. Then I find out how the
flouting, infringing, opting out and violation of maxims create suspense. Finally, I
write the research report.
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Organization of the Thesis
My thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the
Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the
Theoretical Framework, which deals with the theory of maxims and suspense.
Chapter Three contains the analysis of conversational maxims. Chapter Four is the
Conclusion, which includes my opinion and comments about my findings. After
Chapter Four, there is References, which contains the sources of information that I
use. After References, I attach Appendix which contains the data that I use.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Having analyzed the data of my thesis, I would like to make some
concluding points. In conversations, people do not always say what they mean.
They sometimes convey something indirectly. That is why a listener has to guess
what a speaker means in accordance with a particular context of the utterances.
This study is known as pragmatics. Pragmatics deals with the study of meaning
that is communicated by a speaker and interpreted by a listener. The branch of
pragmatics that I choose to analyze the data is conversational maxims.
Conversational maxims are significant for people to be aware that they do
not always say what they actually mean in speaking. A speaker’s message is
sometimes not found directly. Therefore, they have to interpret the speaker’s
meaning in order to get the speaker’s intended meaning and avoid
misunderstanding.
In relation to my research, I include suspense, which is a state that creates
mental uncertainty, excitement or indecision which involve awaiting the outcome
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an event or decision. Suspense is created when the suspects, witnesses, Monk, or
the other police officers fail to observe the maxim. Their failing to observe a
maxim creates a question in the audience’s mind about the story. The audience
will ask why the suspect or the police officer violates, flouts or opts out the
maxim. They will also wonder who the real murderer is, and how Monk or the
police officer will prove that. Another question that the audience may ask is what
will happen next.
Based on the data that I have analyzed, the character fails to observe the
maxim by flouting, violating and opting out of a maxim. There are no infringing
and suspending a maxim that I found in the data. Infringing and suspending a
maxim is not found because when the suspect is being interrogated by Monk or
the other police officers, they tend to lie or mislead the interrogators, refuse to
give any information or force the interrogators to look for the hidden meaning
behind their utterances. I do not find any dialogues in which the speaker says
something in a condition of being drunk, too nervous or excited.
The maxims that the characters fail to observe mostly are violation. This
happens because when the suspect is being interrogated by the detective, Monk, or
the other police officers, the suspect tries to mislead them and hide something for
he or she does not want to be charged of the murder. This also happens because
the suspect has an intention of challenging Monk or the other police officers if
they can come up with a motive that may have driven the suspect to kill the victim.
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Flouting a maxim is done by Monk when he discusses a murder case with
the other police officers. It is also done by the suspects when they do not have any
intention of misleading or they only want to tell Monk or the police officers that
actually they are not involved in that crime. Flouting a maxim is also done by the
real murderer when he or she cannot hide anything from Monk because Monk
strongly believes that he or she is the real murderer. This is seen in data 2. It can
also happen when the suspect wants the hearer to look for another meaning behind
what he says. This happens in data 9.
Opting out of a maxim is also done either by the detective or the suspect.
It is done by the lead detective, Monk, when he does not want to put others in
danger. It is done by the suspect when he or she is unwilling to give any
information for he or she does not want Monk or the other police officers to know
that he or she has committed the murder.
Different from opting out and flouting a maxim, violating a maxim is
only done by the suspect or the killer. A suspect or the murderer does this when
he or she has an intention to mislead or deliberately chooses to lie. In analyzing
the data, at first I do not find any opting out of the maxim because on the surface
all utterances containing the non-observance of maxims that the characters do
seem to involve just flouting and violating. It seems that the characters always
violate the maxims because they are afraid that Monk or the other detectives know
that they are hiding something. That is why they choose to lie on purpose. But
when I check it again carefully, there is an intentions of the characters to refuse to
give the exact answer or they indicate unwillingness to reply in the way it is
normally expected.
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The conversational maxim that the character fails to observe the most is
the maxim of relation. The characters tend to give an irrelevant answer in
answering a question in order to express the hidden meaning, mislead and refuse
to answer. The suspect mostly gives an irrelevant answer because he or she has an
intention to move Monk or the other police officers’ attention away from him or
her.
The conversations between the suspect and the police officers in Monk
detective series contain non-observance of Gricean maxims. When the suspect is
being interrogated, they usually fail to observe a maxim. The non-observance of
Gricean conversational maxims makes people aware that they are not always
cooperative in speaking. The hearer has to find out the speaker’s hidden meaning
in the utterance to avoid misunderstanding. In addition, the non-observance of
Gricean maxims creates suspense that makes the audience excited to find out what
happens next in the story.
For those who want to choose a similar topic for their thesis, they can
choose detective movies, humorous films, or action movies that contain suspense,
humor or conflict to analyze Gricean conversational maxims. In addition, I also
want to suggest they find other additional theories besides Grice’s.
Word count: 986 words.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Parisot, Dean. Monk. United States: Universal Picture, 2006.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. United States: McGrow-Hill Inc,
1972.
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics. London
and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995.
Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………. ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study………………………………………............. 1
Statement of the Problems……………………………………………… 4
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………. 4
Method of Research…………………………………………………….. 5
Organization of the Thesis……………………………………………… 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Conversational Implicature…………………………………………. 6
2.1.1 Conventional Implicature………………......................................... 6
2.1.2 Cooperative Principle……………………………………………... 7
2.2 Conversational Maxim………………………………….................... 7
2.2.1 Maxim of Quantity………………………………………………... 7
2.2.2 Maxim of Quality………………………………………………….. 8
2.2.3 Maxim of Relation…………………………………………………. 8
3.2.4 Maxim of manner………………………………………………….. 8
3.3 Non-observance of the Maxim………………………………………. 8
2.3.1 Flouting a maxim………………………………………………….. 8
2.3.2 Violaing a maxim………………………………………………….. 9
2.3.3 Infringing a maxim…………………………………………………10
2.3.4 Opting out of the maxim……………………………………………10
2.3.5 Suspending a maxim………………………………………………. 10
ii
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CHAPTER THREE:
ANALYSIS OF NON-OBSERVANCE OF
GRICEAN MAXIMS IN THE TV SERIES
MONK ( SEASONS 1-5 ) IN BUILDING
SUSPENSE………………………………………..
12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION………………………………………
38
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..
42
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………
43
iii
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ABSTRACT
Dalam Tugas Akhir yang berjudul Analysis of Non-Observance Gricean
Conversational Maxims in the TV Series Monk (seasons 1-5) in Building Suspense,
saya menganalisis beberapa situasi di mana seseorang tidak mengikuti atau
memperhatikan bidal. Saya mengambil data dari film seri televisi Monk. Dalam film
tersebut seorang detektif menginterogasi seorang tersangka dalam kasus pembunuhan.
Dalam interogasi tersebut, tersangka melanggar bidal. Akibat pelanggaran bidal ini,
penonton menjadi penasaran, tegang dan ingin mengetahui siapa pembunuh
sebenarnya dan apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya pada cerita tersebut.
Tugas Akhir ini bertujuan untuk memberitahu bahwa dalam berkomunikasi,
terkadang seorang penutur mempunyai maksud tertentu yang harus diinterpretasikan
oleh mitra tutur. Hal ini terjadi karena seorang penutur tidak selalu menyampaikan
apa yang ingin ia sampaikan secara langsung dalam berkomunikasi.
iv
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDIX
NO
DATA
1
Monk : He is the guy.
Sharona : How do we know this?
Monk : Wedding ring. He cheats on his wife.
Sharona : So, how could he have killed her? He
cannot be in the two places at once.
Monk : I know. It is impossible but he is the
guy.
2
Monk : Did you know Beth Landow was
pregnant when she died?
Mr. Philby : No, I did not but that would
explain why she jumped. Wouldn’t it? The
baby’s father, whoever he was must have run
out from her, huh?
Monk: You were the father.
Mr. Philby: unfortunately you cannot prove
that, Mr. Monk.
Monk : Do you remember the guy we met the
other day? Daniel Carlyle? Well, that was not
the real Daniel Carlyle. The guy lies about
playing a violin.
Natalie : He was not a violinist?
Monk : I remember something, he said that
we interrupted his rehearsal, remember? But
the violin bow in his hand was loose, so he
could not been playing. He said that he had a
concert that night, but there is nothing in the
schedule.
Natalie : The bow was loose?
Monk : I think we met his brother.
Natalie : But why would they be lying?
Monk : The real Daniel Carlyle is dead. And
his mother and brother killed hm.
3
43
TYPE OF
MAXIM
Maxim of
quality
TYPE OF NONOBSERVANCE
Flouting a maxim
Maxim of Violating a
maxim
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Maxim of
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Flouting a maxim
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4
Monk : I hear you spent some time up there Maxim of manner
with Ray Kaspo.
Spyder : Where did you hear that?
Monk : Around. Is it true?
Spyder : Maybe yes, maybe no.
Opting out of
a maxim
Violating a
maxim
5
Monk: Do you have access to the storage Maxim of
room?
quantity
Frank Frager: I did not have a key or
anything but it would have been easy
enough to break in.
6
Monk: You killed Clea Vance a year ago Maxim of relation Violating a
and you killed Natasia Zorelle last night, do
maxim
not you?
Julian Hodge: Oh and why would I do
something like that?
7
Monk: Roger, you know Debbie Barnet, Maxim of relation Violating a
right? Did you know she was pregnant?
maxim
Roger: You are talking to a married man.
Monk: Did you know she was pregnant?
Roger: How would I know that?
8
Monk: Because she was about to go to Maxim of relation Violating a
public. She was about to tell the truth about
maxim
you. That is why you killed her, isn’t it?
Steve Wagner: I was on a spaceship,
circling the earth with my crew.
9
Captain: Do you know a woman named
Joanne Raphelson?
Steve Wagner: She is dead, isn’t she?
Randy : You are not surprised?
Steve Wagner: Joanne has been depressed
for months. She was about to have a book
published, but somehow that made it worse.
44
Maxim of
relation
Maxim of
quantity
Violating a
maxim
Flouting a
maxim
Violating a
maxim
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10
Monk: Where were you when he was Maxim of
singing?
relation
Kriss Kedder: Where were you?
Violating a
maxim
Opting out of
a maxim
11
Natalie: Dr. Beneth, were you in the Marina
Wednesday morning? You do keep a boat
there, right?
Dr. Beneth: I don’t think I should talk about
this.
12
Monk: You used to work in Mendocino, Maxim of relation Violating a
right?
maxim
Sharkey: A lot of people live in Mendocino.
13
.Monk: Are you going to see Mr. Goodman Maxim of relation Flouting a maxim
later?
Ms. Claire: Why do you ask?
Monk : Well, if you see him, you know. Just
would you tell him to call me? Because I
just…I would love to talk to him. You
know, if you see him.
Ms. Claire : Are you accusing me of
something?
14
Monk : You did not do anything?
The police : Hand to God. He starts throwing
himself around. He is screaming “Help! Help!
He is going to kill me.” So, the operator shut
down the rig, I get off. I walk 10 feet. I hear
screaming I turn around and there is gitomer
on the deck with a knife in his chest.
Monk: Whose knife was it?
The police: Not a clue.
45
Opting out of a
maxim
Maxim of
quantity
Maxim of
relation
Flouting a maxim
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Communication is a tool that transfers information from a speaker to a
listener. Considering that a human being is a social creature, every human being
needs to communicate with each other. Through communication, people express
what they want. Besides, through communication people can make a lot of friends.
Therefore, communication is important for people both to convey their message in
their interactions and socialize with others.
Seeing that people are not always cooperative in a conversation, I would
like to discuss the non-observance of maxims in speech. The title of my thesis is
Analysis of Non-Observance of Gricean Maxims in the TV Series “Monk”
(seasons1-5) in Building Suspense. This title is derived from a general topic,
conversational implicature, which is focused on a specific one: suspense that is
created by non-observing the conversational maxim. This topic belongs to
pragmatics, which is concerned with “the study of meaning as communicated
by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener.” (Yule 3)
1
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Owing to the fact that people are not always cooperative in speaking, a
listener sometimes has to interpret the speaker’s intended meaning. There are
some reasons why people choose not to be cooperative. It happens because they
choose to mislead or deceive the listener intentionally as to make suspense occur.
Suspense is ”a state of mental uncertainty, excitement or indecision which
involves awaiting an outcome or decision, is derived from Latin words meaning
‘hanging up’ and therefore left undecided. Suspense refers to the anticipation of
readers (or of an audience) concerning the outcome events in a novel, story or
play. Suspense is a quality of tension in a plot which sustain interest and makes
readers ask what happen next?” (Shaw 365-366)
When the speaker and listener are having a conversation, they have to
cooperate with each other. The conversation will be successful when there is
collaboration between the speaker and the listener. In everyday conversation,
people sometimes mean more than what they say. In order to get the speaker’s
intended meaning, the listener has to consider that “the speaker intends to
communicate more than is said.” (Yule 35)
In conversation, a speaker’s message is sometimes not found directly so
that the hearer has to find out the message that the speaker wants to convey. This
is known as Conversational Implicature. The theory of implicature was proposed
by H. P. Grice in 1976. (Thomas 56, 57)
I choose non-observance of maxims as my topic because in everyday
conversation people sometimes do not really understand what a speaker means in
a particular context. So, the listener has to get the speaker’s intended meaning.
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When the listener does not get the speaker’s meaning, misunderstanding occurs.
The basic purpose for analyzing the conversational maxim is to make people
aware that sometimes the speaker does not utter what he or she means directly.
The reason I choose Monk instead of other detective movies as the source
of data is that in most episodes of this film the non-observance of conversational
maxims creates suspense. The non-observance of maxims is mostly created when
the main character, Monk, is interrogating the suspect. When the suspect is being
interrogated by Monk or other police officers, he or she always tries to mislead or
hide something. This is how the non-observance of maxims occurs.
My data consists of five seasons of Monk TV series. In each season there
are sixteen episodes. Almost in each episode the non-observance of maxims
occurs. The non-observance of maxims is mostly produced by the murderer or the
suspect when they are interrogated by the main character or other police officers.
My thesis is significant to make people understand that they do not always
say what they actually mean. This study will make them more aware that
sometimes in conversation they have to get the speaker’s intended meaning and
they sometimes have to guess what the speaker means. This study can help them
to notice that sometimes the speaker tries to mislead the listener or lie to the
listener on purpose. Thus, hopefully both the speaker and the listener will be able
to understand each other’s real meaning in a particular context of the utterances.
Word Count: 701 words.
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Statement of the Problem
In this thesis, I will discuss:
1. Which type of non-observance of the maxim does the speaker do?
2. What kind of conversational maxim does the speaker fail to observe?
3. Why does the character fail to observe the conversational maxim?
4. How does failing to observe a maxim create suspense?
Purpose of the Study
By doing this research, I intend:
1. To find out which type of non-observance of maxim that the character do.
2. To find out what kind of conversational maxims that the character fails to
observe.
3. To know why they fail to observe the conversational maxim.
4. To know how failing to observe a conversational maxim creates suspense.
Method of the Research
First, I search for the data. After I get the data, I try to find out which
conversational maxims that the characters fail to observe. Then I find the reason
why they fail to observe the conversational maxims. Then I find out how the
flouting, infringing, opting out and violation of maxims create suspense. Finally, I
write the research report.
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Organization of the Thesis
My thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the
Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the
Theoretical Framework, which deals with the theory of maxims and suspense.
Chapter Three contains the analysis of conversational maxims. Chapter Four is the
Conclusion, which includes my opinion and comments about my findings. After
Chapter Four, there is References, which contains the sources of information that I
use. After References, I attach Appendix which contains the data that I use.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Having analyzed the data of my thesis, I would like to make some
concluding points. In conversations, people do not always say what they mean.
They sometimes convey something indirectly. That is why a listener has to guess
what a speaker means in accordance with a particular context of the utterances.
This study is known as pragmatics. Pragmatics deals with the study of meaning
that is communicated by a speaker and interpreted by a listener. The branch of
pragmatics that I choose to analyze the data is conversational maxims.
Conversational maxims are significant for people to be aware that they do
not always say what they actually mean in speaking. A speaker’s message is
sometimes not found directly. Therefore, they have to interpret the speaker’s
meaning in order to get the speaker’s intended meaning and avoid
misunderstanding.
In relation to my research, I include suspense, which is a state that creates
mental uncertainty, excitement or indecision which involve awaiting the outcome
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an event or decision. Suspense is created when the suspects, witnesses, Monk, or
the other police officers fail to observe the maxim. Their failing to observe a
maxim creates a question in the audience’s mind about the story. The audience
will ask why the suspect or the police officer violates, flouts or opts out the
maxim. They will also wonder who the real murderer is, and how Monk or the
police officer will prove that. Another question that the audience may ask is what
will happen next.
Based on the data that I have analyzed, the character fails to observe the
maxim by flouting, violating and opting out of a maxim. There are no infringing
and suspending a maxim that I found in the data. Infringing and suspending a
maxim is not found because when the suspect is being interrogated by Monk or
the other police officers, they tend to lie or mislead the interrogators, refuse to
give any information or force the interrogators to look for the hidden meaning
behind their utterances. I do not find any dialogues in which the speaker says
something in a condition of being drunk, too nervous or excited.
The maxims that the characters fail to observe mostly are violation. This
happens because when the suspect is being interrogated by the detective, Monk, or
the other police officers, the suspect tries to mislead them and hide something for
he or she does not want to be charged of the murder. This also happens because
the suspect has an intention of challenging Monk or the other police officers if
they can come up with a motive that may have driven the suspect to kill the victim.
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Flouting a maxim is done by Monk when he discusses a murder case with
the other police officers. It is also done by the suspects when they do not have any
intention of misleading or they only want to tell Monk or the police officers that
actually they are not involved in that crime. Flouting a maxim is also done by the
real murderer when he or she cannot hide anything from Monk because Monk
strongly believes that he or she is the real murderer. This is seen in data 2. It can
also happen when the suspect wants the hearer to look for another meaning behind
what he says. This happens in data 9.
Opting out of a maxim is also done either by the detective or the suspect.
It is done by the lead detective, Monk, when he does not want to put others in
danger. It is done by the suspect when he or she is unwilling to give any
information for he or she does not want Monk or the other police officers to know
that he or she has committed the murder.
Different from opting out and flouting a maxim, violating a maxim is
only done by the suspect or the killer. A suspect or the murderer does this when
he or she has an intention to mislead or deliberately chooses to lie. In analyzing
the data, at first I do not find any opting out of the maxim because on the surface
all utterances containing the non-observance of maxims that the characters do
seem to involve just flouting and violating. It seems that the characters always
violate the maxims because they are afraid that Monk or the other detectives know
that they are hiding something. That is why they choose to lie on purpose. But
when I check it again carefully, there is an intentions of the characters to refuse to
give the exact answer or they indicate unwillingness to reply in the way it is
normally expected.
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The conversational maxim that the character fails to observe the most is
the maxim of relation. The characters tend to give an irrelevant answer in
answering a question in order to express the hidden meaning, mislead and refuse
to answer. The suspect mostly gives an irrelevant answer because he or she has an
intention to move Monk or the other police officers’ attention away from him or
her.
The conversations between the suspect and the police officers in Monk
detective series contain non-observance of Gricean maxims. When the suspect is
being interrogated, they usually fail to observe a maxim. The non-observance of
Gricean conversational maxims makes people aware that they are not always
cooperative in speaking. The hearer has to find out the speaker’s hidden meaning
in the utterance to avoid misunderstanding. In addition, the non-observance of
Gricean maxims creates suspense that makes the audience excited to find out what
happens next in the story.
For those who want to choose a similar topic for their thesis, they can
choose detective movies, humorous films, or action movies that contain suspense,
humor or conflict to analyze Gricean conversational maxims. In addition, I also
want to suggest they find other additional theories besides Grice’s.
Word count: 986 words.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Parisot, Dean. Monk. United States: Universal Picture, 2006.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. United States: McGrow-Hill Inc,
1972.
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics. London
and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995.
Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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