Definition Cooperative Principles Pragmatics
illustrated by H.P. Grice Leech, 1991: 8 which are elaborated in four sub-principles called maxims. The maxims in the cooperative
principles are elaborated below.
1 Maxim of Quantity
It is about giving the right amount of information such as making your contribution as informative as required which should not be
too less and too much. The examples are presented below. a
You can see me at 09.30 a.m. at my office. b
You can see me at 09.30 a.m. at my office. However, if you don’t mind, we can just go outside and have lunch
together discussing our ne w project. I’m extremely
hungry. Yule, 1996: 37
The context of situation in the examples above is that the speaker intends to make an appointment with the speaker’s
colleague. In utterance a the speaker has already fulfilled the maxim of quantity by being informative in giving the right time
and place to the colleague without adding any other information. However, the pattern in utterance b contains too much
information about the speaker’s intention which is not only to have a working meeting but also to have lunch. In this case, the
speaker overlaps the knowledge that should be shared by both
speakers which is to have a working meeting only. Thus the utterance in b flouts the maxim.
2 Maxim of Quality
It is about trying to make your contribution that is true such as not saying something you believe to be false and lack of evidences.
The examples are presented below. a
I will be there at 10 o’clock sharp. Prepare what we’ve been discussing.
b Emm, I will be there at about 10 o’clock if I’m not
mistaken. You have to prepare what we’ve been
discussing, right? The context of the situation in the examples above is the
speaker promises to attend a meeting. These two people already agreed upon what they will be discussing in the meeting. In
utterance a, the information given is accurate that the speaker without any doubt has no intention to come late and even
understand what things to prepare. However, when looking at utterance b, there is an in
dication that what the speaker’s utterances may not be totally true because she is not sure about
when to come and what they should prepare before the meeting. Thus, the utterance in b flouts the maxim.
3 Maxim of Relation
It is about making your contribution relevant such as saying something which is in line with the topic or the direction of the
speaker that you try to engage with. The examples are presented below.
a Someone is knocking the door
Gale : I’m in the bath, Prime.
b Someone is knocking the door
Gale :
I don’t really know if this is important, Prime, but what time is it?
The context of situation in two examples above is different. In conversation a, the context is that there is someone calling on
the phone. Gale expects Prime to understand that his reason is relevant to
Prime’s assertion that even if there is someone knocking the door, Gale cannot go and see who it is because Gale
is in the bath. However, at utterance b, it is assumed that the context is actually in a first date. There is a possibility for the
speaker to have a non-relevant material because he wants to stop the dating for some reasons, so as to say getting bored with the
situation or getting too late to go home. So, the speaker also seemingly likes to use expressions like ‘anyway’, ‘well’, ‘I don’t
know if this is important’, ‘oh, by the way’, and so on. In that case, sentence b flouts the maxim.
4 Maxim of Manner
It is about making your contribution perspicuous such as be brief and orderly. It can also be done by avoiding any obscurity of
expression and ambiguity. The examples are presented below. a
When I was 13, I vividly remembered the way I fell down from the tree. I was hospitalized for three days after that. I
never want to climb a tree anymore since then. b
This may be a bit confusing to me, but I remembered being in stairs’ accident.
The context situation in the examples above is clearly described that there is a person who tries to tell how he felt down
from the stairs when he was a kid. However, the utterance a is the only one that fulfils the maxim of manner. In utterance b,
he tries to remember the event but it becomes more awkward since he could not actually remember what happened to him
when he was a kid. These four maxims variably apply to different contexts of
language use. They also can conflict each other. Even if the speaker breaks one of the maxims, it does not mean that she fails in any way
to speak the English language. Breaking the maxims can be used to deceive or give misleading information which somehow can be
considered as a normal conversation in which it also depends on the context situation.