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b. The cooperative Principle
The violation of cooperative principle in datum 2 to create the humor is identified below:
1 Maxim of quality
Po says that he almost arrives to jade palace but when he stops and flop onto his back to catch his breath he is aware that he is only seven stairs from the
bottom. He says, “Come on Come on, ya—almost there” but when he is aware
he says, “What? No Oh No”. What Po says that he is almost to the Jade Palace is lack of evidence. In sum, Po violates maxim of quality.
2 Maxim of quantity
This maxim proposes the speaker to give his contribution sufficiently informative for the current purpose of the conversation and doesn’t give more
information than required.
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Po expresses his feeling when he comes almost to the Jade Palace and when he realizes that he is only seven steps from bottom by
saying “Come on Come on, ya—almost there. What? No Oh No”. He expresses his feeling sufficiently. Kg. Shaw and Jr Shaw express their sympathy when they
know that Po only makes seven steps. Kg. Shaw says, “Sorry, Po” and Jr. Shaw says, “Well bring you back a souvenir. They express their sympathy sufficiently.
It means that all the speaker give their contribution sufficiently informative. It proves that this maxim has accorded well in datum 2.
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Alison Ross 1998, op.cit. p. 40.
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3 Maxim of relevance
Po’s statement “Come on Come on, ya—almost there. What? No Oh No
” is relevant to the situation when he is struggling to go to the Jade Palace and feeling that he is almost there. His statement “What? No Oh No” is also relevant
to the situation when he is aware that he is still far from the Jade Palace. The statement of Kg Shaw saying that he is so sorry for Po and the statement of Jr
Shaw saying that he’ll bring Po a souvenir are relevant to the Po’s situation when he realizes that he is still at the bottom of the Jade Palace. All facts prove that this
maxim has been fulfilled.
4 Maxim of manner
Po expresses his happiness and sadness clearly by saying “Come on Come on, ya—almost there. What? No Oh No
” Kg Shaw and Jr Shaw also say their idea clearly about their sympathy by saying “Well bring you back a souvenir”.
Then, the speakers in datum 2 share their ideas straightforwardly. They adhere to this maxim well.
In sum, the writer finds the maxim of quality is not adhered to in dialog in datum 2.
c. Humor