42 knew that Rachel was trying to tell something to others, including Chandler. Here,
Chandler was flouting a maxim to make a fun of Rachel.
b. Flouting the Maxim of Quantity
The same as maxim of Quality, Maxim of Quantity also has two specific maxims. The two specific maxims according to Grice 1989 are i your
contribution is less informative than is required and ii your contribution is more informative than is required. Here is the case of flouting a maxim by giving less
informative than is required:
EXCERPT 7.14 Chandler has been sick of having exercises with Monica. Although
Chandler wants he loose his weight, but he cannot stand Monica who always forces him to do exercises before work, during work, and after
work. Today is Sunday. Chandler wants to take a rest from exercising on Sunday. He wants to sleep all day long, but the door bell is ringing.
Chandler and Joeys apartment, Chandler is answering the door in his robe.
Chandler
: No, no, no, no, no, no opens door to Monica No.
Monica, its Sunday morning. Im not running on a Sunday. Monica
: Why not? Chandler
: Because its Sunday. Its Gods day.
Excerpt 7.14 showed that Chandler was breaking the maxim of Quantity by giving uninformative answer when Monica asked
why not?. When Monica invited Chandler to jog, he had showed to her how fatigue he was, and how he did
not want to run on Sunday by saying Im not running on a Sunday. He did not
know what to say when Monica asked again showing that she did not understand that Chandler was fatigue and did not want to run. He gave less information than
what Monica wanted to know. It was not because he did not want to but he wanted
43 Monica to understand and let her to comprehend by herself by answering
Because it’s Sunday. It’s God’s day. His answer meant that he did not want to run.
The second case is flouting a maxim by giving a contribution that is more informative than is required:
EXCERPT 1.24
Ross is about to leave from Monica and Rachel’s apartment. Rachel is on the balcony when Ross says ‘Bye bye, Rach’. Rachel is trying to keep Ross
to stay. Ross : Well, I gotta go. Bye. Bye, Rach.
Rachel :
sticking her head in from the balcony Wait, are you leaving?
Ross : Yeah, thats kinda what I meant by bye
Ross was flouting the maxim of Quantity by giving the more informative answer by saying
Yeah, thats kinda what I meant by bye. Actually, Rachel only emphasized what Ross had said, and Ross could only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Ross
answered that way because he just wanted to make a joke, since Rachel seemed to be so serious when she knew Ross was about to leave.
c. Flouting the Maxim of Relevance
