Analysis of The Occurrence of Humor Due To The Non-Observance of The Gricean Maxims in Disney's 'Suite Life of Zack and Cody' Season 1-3.
ABSTRACT
Dalam skripsi ini, saya menganalisis bagaimana pelanggaran prinsip-prinsip
bidal Herbert Paul Grice yang ditemukan dalam komedi seri Disney yang berjudul Suite
Life of Zack and Cody dapat memunculkan efek humor. Sebagai refleksi atas apa yang
terjadi dalam kehidupan nyata, komedi seri tersebut dapat menggambarkan situasi di
mana pelanggaran bidal-bidal Grice terjadi.
Grice mengemukakan bahwa pada umumnya ada lima jenis pelanggaran
prinsip-prinsip bidal, yaitu: flouting the maxim, violating the maxim, infringing a
maxim, opting out of the maxim, dan suspending a maxim. Selanjutnya, untuk
menganalisis efek humor yang ditimbulkan, saya mengaplikasikan teori humor gagasan
Jerry Suls dan Thomas Shultz. Dalam teorinya, Jerry Suls dan Thomas Shultz
berpendapat bahwa humor dapat muncul apabila ada perbedaan antara persepsi
penonton dengan akhir suatu skema.
Setelah menganalisis 27 data yang ditemukan dalam komedi seri tersebut, saya
menarik kesimpulan bahwa pelanggaran prinsip-prinsip bidal Grice yang paling sering
terjadi adalah flouting the maxim. Hai ini dapat dipahami karena flouting the maxim
adalah jenis pelanggaran bidal Grice yang paling sering terjadi dalam kehidupan nyata.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................
i
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................
ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ...............................................................................
Statement of the Problems .............................................................................
Purpose of the Study .....................................................................................
Method of Research ......................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis ............................................................................
1
4
4
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Pragmatics .....................................................................................................
7
Cooperative Principle ……………………………………………………… 7
Four Conversational Maxims ………………………………………………
8
Non-Observance of the Gricean Maxims ………………………………….. 9
Humor and Incongruity Theory ……………………………………………. 15
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF HUMOR
DUE TO THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF THE GRICEAN MAXIMS
IN DISNEY’S SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY
(SEASONS 1-3) ............................................................................................ 18
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 49
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................
53
APPENDIX ..............................................................................................................
55
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APPENDIX
No. Data
Utterance
Type of Non-Observance
1.
(1)
[Quickly] Ooo… I’m late for rehearsal. I’m sure they’re great, love you, bye…
Flouting the maxim of quality
2.
(2)
I picked the bad day to be Zack
Flouting the maxim of manner
3.
(3)
Oww that’s easy. That’s where Mrs. President keeps all the cleaning supplies
Infringing the maxim
I had been given a terrible task. I had been ordered to rid the premises of children by Mr.
55
4.
(4)
Moseby. Now I could disobey him, but Mr. Moseby reminds me of my father who’s also
Flouting the maxim of quantity
strict, demanding, ruthless and mean. Ohhh… I miss my papa so much [begins to cry]
5.
(5)
6.
(6)
Oh…I know all about Genealogy. It’s when you rub the lamp and get three wishes
Infringing the maxim
We started riding and talking, and sitting and talking, drinking soda and talking. Man,
Flouting the maxim of quantity
girls can talk
and manner
7.
(7)
There’s not enough dough in the world
Flouting the maxim of relation
8.
(8)
All three of them and I can see myself perfectly
Infringing the maxim
9.
(9)
I was going to but this outfit just wrinkled so easily so I thought…
Infringing the maxim
10.
(10)
You mean the prindle?
Infringing the maxim
11.
(11)
The prindle
Infringing the maxim
12.
(12)
Would you like em or fem?
Flouting the maxim of manner
Uh-uh. I’m not putting too much pressure on me. Harvard’s putting too much pressure on
Flouting the maxim of quantity
13.
(13)
me, Princeton, MIT, Stanford. Do you think they’re all looking for underachievers? If I
and manner
don’t ace woodshop, I would be one of those guys who sells hotdogs and sleeps in a taxi
56
14.
(14)
Hey, how much does that pay?
Flouting the maxim of relation
15.
(15)
You get to be our alternate
Violating the maxim
16.
(16)
Good? It’s great! It means that if somebody can’t bowl, you get to be our secret weapon
Violating the maxim
17.
(17)
Lose
Flouting the maxim of relation
18.
(18)
How can you never want us to feel at home?
Flouting the maxim of relation
19.
(19)
Boku no pansu no naka ni hachi no su ga (I have a hornets nest in my pants)
Infringing the maxim
20.
(20)
You forget to cherish her
Flouting the maxim of relation
21.
(21)
But nobody else’s in here
Infringing the maxim
22.
(22)
It’s going to be faby. I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there.
Infringing the maxim
23.
(23)
Weren’t you listening? I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there
Infringing the maxim
24.
(24)
I said I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there
Infringing the maxim
25.
(25)
And then a storm hit it and the waves were huge and my mom in a wheel chair rolled
Flouting the maxim of quantity
aside. I scream MOTHER! THROW ME THE HOUSE KEYS!
57
26.
(26)
27.
(27)
About that blonde, good choice bad timing
Flouting the maxim of relation
who happens to have five bathrooms. We can go all at once and still have one bathroom
Flouting the maxim of quantity
left over
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
It is undeniably true that language is one of many essential aspects of
human life and civilization. Language is not only a method of human
communication, but also a process to convey someone’s feeling, and a way to
establish a relation among human beings. Occasionally, whenever people want to
express their feeling to someone, they tend to express it indirectly in order to
imply something else. This indirect expression is called implicature, which is “a
distinction between what speakers say and what they mean, a theory which
attempts at explaining how a hearer gets from what is said to what is meant . . .”
(Thomas 56).
Herbert Paul Grice (in Thomas 63) introduced the term “The Four
Conversational Maxims” to help establish what the implicature might be. Grice
was well aware that there are very many occasions when “people fail to observe
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the maxims” and he called the failure of observing the maxims the nonobservance of the maxims (Thomas 64).
There are many possibilities why people, in their conversations with
others, fail to observe the maxims. In a conversation, two sides are involved in the
process, namely the speaker and the hearer. If the speaker tries so hard to build a
good conversation but the hearer does not, or the other way around, it will result
in the failure of observing the maxims. The failure can result in several possible
outcomes, namely the occurrence of humor, suspense, conflicts or tense
atmosphere. There are many factors that will affect the conversation, for example,
ambiguous meaning, lack of information, or irrelevant answers. Therefore, both
the speaker and the hearer must work together to build a good conversation.
This particular topic has been chosen to be discussed because people
commonly do not apply the maxims in their daily conversations, so that
misinterpretations may occur. As previously mentioned, misinterpretations may
result in conflicts, humor or other possible outcomes. For this reason, nonobservance of maxims is very fascinating to analyze. Conversations showing nonobservance of maxims can also be seen in television series, as a reflection of what
happens in real life.
In this thesis, the study focuses on the non-observance of the maxims that
takes place in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3. The analysis is
on the utterances that will lead to the occurrence of humor, to find out why such
utterances containing non-observance of maxims can result in the occurrence of
humor.
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Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody is an American sitcom created by
Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series is set in Tipton Hotel in Boston and
centers on Zachary and Cody Martin, 11-year-old troublemaker twins who live at
Tipton Hotel. The other main characters include Tipton Hotel heiress, London
Tipton; the hotel candy counter girl, Madeline Fitzpatrick; the hotel room boy,
Esteban Ramirez; the hotel manager, Marrion Moseby; and the boys' single
mother and one of the hotel's nightclub performers, Carey Martin (“Imdb-Internet
Movie Database”).
This study belongs to Pragmatics, one of the areas in Linguistics.
Pragmatics is “the study of speaker’s meaning, a study of how more gets
communicated than is said” (Yule 3). This comedy series has been chosen as the
data source for the reason that this comedy series has won many awards from
2006 to 2009 for Outstanding Children’s Program and Best TV Series, also has
been nominated in Primetime Emmy Award (“Imdb-Internet Movie Database”).
Moreover, in this comedy, there are many examples of utterances that can be
categorized as non-observance of maxims and so it would be interesting to find
out the hidden or implied meaning of the speaker’s utterances. Furthermore, the
utterances can be analyzed for the occurrence of humor itself, since Disney’s Suite
Life of Zack and Cody is famous for the humor aspect that occurs in the series.
This study also uses specific theories, particularly the theories that are related to
humor, namely the theory about incongruity of Thomas Shultz and Jerry Suls,
which will be elaborated in the next chapter of this thesis.
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The research topic is significant since it will make people aware that the
non-observance of maxims can result in the occurrence of humor. As humor is the
main factor that makes this comedy series become so popular, it is believed that
this research is worth doing and that people who read this thesis will be wellinformed about non-observance of the Gricean maxims; they will realize how it
can result in the occurrence of humor, and later they will be able to appreciate the
value of humor in human communication.
(756 words)
Statement of the Problems
In this thesis, the analysis is done to answer the following research
questions:
1. What utterances in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 are
categorized as non-observance of Gricean maxims?
2. What type of non-observance of Gricean maxims do the speakers in Disney’s
Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 fail to observe?
3. How does the non-observance of maxims result in the occurrence of humor?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problems, this study purposes
1. to find the utterances in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 that
are categorized as non-observance of the Gricean maxims;
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2. to categorize the type of non-observance of the Gricean maxims that the
speakers fail to observe in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3;
3. to explain how the non-observance of the Gricean maxims results in the
occurrence of humor.
Method of Research
This thesis has taken four steps to be accomplished. The first step was
searching and downloading Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody comedy series
from the Internet to be used as the source of the research data. The second was
preparing the theories of Pragmatics, especially those related to non-observance of
the Gricean maxims and to humor. Afterwards, the theories were used to analyze
the data and finally, when the analysis was done, the research report was written.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction,
which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problems, Purpose of
the Study, Method of Research, and also the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter
Two is Theoretical Framework, which presents the definitions and also the
elaborations of H.P. Grice’s theories regarding non-observance of maxims and
theories of humor used to analyze the data. Chapter Three provides the analysis of
the data. Chapter Four, which is the last chapter in this thesis, covers the
conclusion of the analysis. Bibliography and Appendix are presented at the end of
the thesis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the data found in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody
seasons 1-3, there are some findings regarding the occurrence of humor due to the
non-observance of the Gricean maxims in the comedy series.
Out of the five types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims, there are
only three types that can be found in the data, which are: flouting the maxim,
infringing the maxim, and violation of the maxim. The types of suspending the
maxim and opting out of the maxim are not found in the analysis.
The type of flouting the maxim outnumbers the other two types by the
total of sixteen. I believe the reason for flouting the maxim to be the most
dominant type in this comedy series is that flouting the maxim forces the audience
to look for another plausible answer, which may lead to a humorous scene.
Furthermore, I believe that flouting the maxim is the most common type of nonobservance that occurs in our daily life. As stated in Chapter One, comedy series
can be a reflection of what happens in real life. This comedy series, which tells a
story of an ordinary family with a middle class status and their environment, can
describe what happens in our life.
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There are eleven data categorized as infringing the maxim and there are
two data that belong to violation of the maxim. According to the analysis,
infringing of the maxim is mostly done by London. I am of the opinion that the
reason behind this finding lies on the depiction of London in the comedy series.
As it is presented in the analysis, London is portrayed as someone who has a
cognitive deficiency. She is a person who has a difficulty in understanding the
context of a situation. The character of London in the comedy series somehow
makes such a strong effect to the audience that makes them believe that when it
comes to infringing a maxim, London will have something to do with it. This
contributes quite a lot to the humorous effect.
Apart from that, in terms of the violation of the maxims, Carey Martin,
who is the mother of the twins, seems to be the character who does it the most.
This result leads the audience to acquire a different effect. From the analysis of
the violation of the maxim, I come to a conclusion that the type of maxim
violation can also be used for good intention. It can be seen that the intention of
Carey misleading another character is for a good purpose.
In the case of London, for example, it can be seen that the purpose of
Carey when misleading London in scene 9 is to respect London’s feeling. Carey
does not want to hurt London’s feeling. In order to do so, she misleads London by
saying that she is assigned to be the alternate for the team. While the truth is,
London is not permitted to play in the bowling competition due to the fact that
Mr. Moseby thinks that she does not have the capability of bowling.
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All data of the flouting of the maxims can be seen in the speech events that
involve Zack and Cody. In my opinion, due to the fact that this comedy series puts
Zack and Cody as the main protagonists, the data will likely tell the story of both
of them. Furthermore, throughout the series, I have noticed that by analysing Zack
and Cody’s utterances regarding every situation, I can see how Zack’s personality
is different from Cody’s. The differences of their personalities can be seen on how
they cope with every situation.
In terms of the types of flouting the maxims, the type that frequently
occurs throughout the series is the type of flouting the maxim of relation, in total
of six data. While there are only four data that show flouting the maxim of
manner, five data that result in flouting the maxim of quantityand one data that
show flouting the maxim of quality.
The theory of humor of Thomas Shultz is applied in the data analysis by
comparing and resolving the incongruous aspect of the utterance and later
resolving the differences between the expectation of the audience and the punch
line of each speech event. In all the data, the humor occurs because of the
expectation and prediction of the audience that are not always proved to be right.
I personally believe that the application of this particular humor theory is
suitable because this comedy series revolves around people’s daily life. This
comedy series is a family comedy that can easily relate with the audience because
they may have the same experience as the characters in the comedy series. The
audience may have their own expectation and prediction of the situation, yet their
prediction is not always proved to be right. By being able to resolve the
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incongruous aspects in the comedy series and making sense of it in one way, they
may find the utterances to be humorous.
For further researchers who are interested in analyzing the non-observance
of the Gricean maxims in comedy series, I would like to suggest in analyzing the
sequel of Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody entitled Suite Life on Deck. Once
again, the story revolves around Zack and Cody and their surrounding as they
become teenagers. Another Disney’s comedy series such as Wizards of Waverly
Place that tells a story of a family who happens to possess magical powers would
also be interesting to be analyzed. In addition, Disney’s That’s So Raven tells the
story of an everyday African-American family. Those comedy series would be
fascinating to analyze because they may have different issues. As it is reflected in
reality, those comedy series give a variety in terms of everyday issues. Thus, it
would be interesting to find out the similarities between the comedy series and the
reality.
(985 words)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Source
Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Dir. Richard Correll, Lex Passaris, Jim Drake, Danny
Kallis, and Kelly Sandefur. Perf. Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Brenda
Song, Ashley Tisdale, Phill Lewis, Kim Rhodes. Disney, 2005. DVD.
References
“Black
and
White
Television;
Racial
Dynamics
on
Disney.”
Gorillawar.wordpress.com. N.p., 02 May 2013. Web.
“Cherish.” Def.1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2007. Print.
“Emergency.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2007.
Print.
“Full Cast and Crew for ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’ (2005).” Imdb.com.
Imdb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 06 May 2013.
“GENEALOGY BASICS.” Lib.unc.edu. N.p., Dec. 2011. Web. 06 May 2013.
“Genie (Also Jinn and Djinn).” Www.mythcreatures.co.uk. N.p., 2012. Web. 01
June 2013.
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Goldstein, Jeffrey H. “Cognitive Processes in Humor Apreciation.” Handbook of
Humor Research. By Paul E. McGhee. Vol. 1. New York: Springer New
York, 1983. 42-43. Print. Basic Issues.
“Grice's Conversational Maxims.” Cog.brown.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2013.
“Grice’s Cooperative Principle, Maxims and Implicatures.” Unibuc.ro. N.p., n.d.
Web. 12 May 2013.
“Lovely.” Def. 2a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2007. Print.
“Prindle.” Def. 1a. Urbandictionary.com. N.p., 19 Mar. 29. Web. 3 May 213.
"The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (2005–2008)." Imdb.com. Imdb.com, Inc, n.d.
Web. 06 May 2013.
Thomas, Jenny. "Conversational Implicature." Meaning in Introduction: An
Introduction to Pragmatics. 1st ed. New York: Longman and New York,
1995. 55-85. Print.
"What Is a Genie?" Wisegeek.org. Conjecture Corporation, n.d. Web. 12 May
2013.
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Dalam skripsi ini, saya menganalisis bagaimana pelanggaran prinsip-prinsip
bidal Herbert Paul Grice yang ditemukan dalam komedi seri Disney yang berjudul Suite
Life of Zack and Cody dapat memunculkan efek humor. Sebagai refleksi atas apa yang
terjadi dalam kehidupan nyata, komedi seri tersebut dapat menggambarkan situasi di
mana pelanggaran bidal-bidal Grice terjadi.
Grice mengemukakan bahwa pada umumnya ada lima jenis pelanggaran
prinsip-prinsip bidal, yaitu: flouting the maxim, violating the maxim, infringing a
maxim, opting out of the maxim, dan suspending a maxim. Selanjutnya, untuk
menganalisis efek humor yang ditimbulkan, saya mengaplikasikan teori humor gagasan
Jerry Suls dan Thomas Shultz. Dalam teorinya, Jerry Suls dan Thomas Shultz
berpendapat bahwa humor dapat muncul apabila ada perbedaan antara persepsi
penonton dengan akhir suatu skema.
Setelah menganalisis 27 data yang ditemukan dalam komedi seri tersebut, saya
menarik kesimpulan bahwa pelanggaran prinsip-prinsip bidal Grice yang paling sering
terjadi adalah flouting the maxim. Hai ini dapat dipahami karena flouting the maxim
adalah jenis pelanggaran bidal Grice yang paling sering terjadi dalam kehidupan nyata.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................
i
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................
ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ...............................................................................
Statement of the Problems .............................................................................
Purpose of the Study .....................................................................................
Method of Research ......................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis ............................................................................
1
4
4
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Pragmatics .....................................................................................................
7
Cooperative Principle ……………………………………………………… 7
Four Conversational Maxims ………………………………………………
8
Non-Observance of the Gricean Maxims ………………………………….. 9
Humor and Incongruity Theory ……………………………………………. 15
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE OCCURRENCE OF HUMOR
DUE TO THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF THE GRICEAN MAXIMS
IN DISNEY’S SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY
(SEASONS 1-3) ............................................................................................ 18
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 49
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................
53
APPENDIX ..............................................................................................................
55
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APPENDIX
No. Data
Utterance
Type of Non-Observance
1.
(1)
[Quickly] Ooo… I’m late for rehearsal. I’m sure they’re great, love you, bye…
Flouting the maxim of quality
2.
(2)
I picked the bad day to be Zack
Flouting the maxim of manner
3.
(3)
Oww that’s easy. That’s where Mrs. President keeps all the cleaning supplies
Infringing the maxim
I had been given a terrible task. I had been ordered to rid the premises of children by Mr.
55
4.
(4)
Moseby. Now I could disobey him, but Mr. Moseby reminds me of my father who’s also
Flouting the maxim of quantity
strict, demanding, ruthless and mean. Ohhh… I miss my papa so much [begins to cry]
5.
(5)
6.
(6)
Oh…I know all about Genealogy. It’s when you rub the lamp and get three wishes
Infringing the maxim
We started riding and talking, and sitting and talking, drinking soda and talking. Man,
Flouting the maxim of quantity
girls can talk
and manner
7.
(7)
There’s not enough dough in the world
Flouting the maxim of relation
8.
(8)
All three of them and I can see myself perfectly
Infringing the maxim
9.
(9)
I was going to but this outfit just wrinkled so easily so I thought…
Infringing the maxim
10.
(10)
You mean the prindle?
Infringing the maxim
11.
(11)
The prindle
Infringing the maxim
12.
(12)
Would you like em or fem?
Flouting the maxim of manner
Uh-uh. I’m not putting too much pressure on me. Harvard’s putting too much pressure on
Flouting the maxim of quantity
13.
(13)
me, Princeton, MIT, Stanford. Do you think they’re all looking for underachievers? If I
and manner
don’t ace woodshop, I would be one of those guys who sells hotdogs and sleeps in a taxi
56
14.
(14)
Hey, how much does that pay?
Flouting the maxim of relation
15.
(15)
You get to be our alternate
Violating the maxim
16.
(16)
Good? It’s great! It means that if somebody can’t bowl, you get to be our secret weapon
Violating the maxim
17.
(17)
Lose
Flouting the maxim of relation
18.
(18)
How can you never want us to feel at home?
Flouting the maxim of relation
19.
(19)
Boku no pansu no naka ni hachi no su ga (I have a hornets nest in my pants)
Infringing the maxim
20.
(20)
You forget to cherish her
Flouting the maxim of relation
21.
(21)
But nobody else’s in here
Infringing the maxim
22.
(22)
It’s going to be faby. I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there.
Infringing the maxim
23.
(23)
Weren’t you listening? I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there
Infringing the maxim
24.
(24)
I said I’m gonna put purses over here and matching belts over there
Infringing the maxim
25.
(25)
And then a storm hit it and the waves were huge and my mom in a wheel chair rolled
Flouting the maxim of quantity
aside. I scream MOTHER! THROW ME THE HOUSE KEYS!
57
26.
(26)
27.
(27)
About that blonde, good choice bad timing
Flouting the maxim of relation
who happens to have five bathrooms. We can go all at once and still have one bathroom
Flouting the maxim of quantity
left over
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
It is undeniably true that language is one of many essential aspects of
human life and civilization. Language is not only a method of human
communication, but also a process to convey someone’s feeling, and a way to
establish a relation among human beings. Occasionally, whenever people want to
express their feeling to someone, they tend to express it indirectly in order to
imply something else. This indirect expression is called implicature, which is “a
distinction between what speakers say and what they mean, a theory which
attempts at explaining how a hearer gets from what is said to what is meant . . .”
(Thomas 56).
Herbert Paul Grice (in Thomas 63) introduced the term “The Four
Conversational Maxims” to help establish what the implicature might be. Grice
was well aware that there are very many occasions when “people fail to observe
1
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the maxims” and he called the failure of observing the maxims the nonobservance of the maxims (Thomas 64).
There are many possibilities why people, in their conversations with
others, fail to observe the maxims. In a conversation, two sides are involved in the
process, namely the speaker and the hearer. If the speaker tries so hard to build a
good conversation but the hearer does not, or the other way around, it will result
in the failure of observing the maxims. The failure can result in several possible
outcomes, namely the occurrence of humor, suspense, conflicts or tense
atmosphere. There are many factors that will affect the conversation, for example,
ambiguous meaning, lack of information, or irrelevant answers. Therefore, both
the speaker and the hearer must work together to build a good conversation.
This particular topic has been chosen to be discussed because people
commonly do not apply the maxims in their daily conversations, so that
misinterpretations may occur. As previously mentioned, misinterpretations may
result in conflicts, humor or other possible outcomes. For this reason, nonobservance of maxims is very fascinating to analyze. Conversations showing nonobservance of maxims can also be seen in television series, as a reflection of what
happens in real life.
In this thesis, the study focuses on the non-observance of the maxims that
takes place in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3. The analysis is
on the utterances that will lead to the occurrence of humor, to find out why such
utterances containing non-observance of maxims can result in the occurrence of
humor.
2
Maranatha Christian University
Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody is an American sitcom created by
Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series is set in Tipton Hotel in Boston and
centers on Zachary and Cody Martin, 11-year-old troublemaker twins who live at
Tipton Hotel. The other main characters include Tipton Hotel heiress, London
Tipton; the hotel candy counter girl, Madeline Fitzpatrick; the hotel room boy,
Esteban Ramirez; the hotel manager, Marrion Moseby; and the boys' single
mother and one of the hotel's nightclub performers, Carey Martin (“Imdb-Internet
Movie Database”).
This study belongs to Pragmatics, one of the areas in Linguistics.
Pragmatics is “the study of speaker’s meaning, a study of how more gets
communicated than is said” (Yule 3). This comedy series has been chosen as the
data source for the reason that this comedy series has won many awards from
2006 to 2009 for Outstanding Children’s Program and Best TV Series, also has
been nominated in Primetime Emmy Award (“Imdb-Internet Movie Database”).
Moreover, in this comedy, there are many examples of utterances that can be
categorized as non-observance of maxims and so it would be interesting to find
out the hidden or implied meaning of the speaker’s utterances. Furthermore, the
utterances can be analyzed for the occurrence of humor itself, since Disney’s Suite
Life of Zack and Cody is famous for the humor aspect that occurs in the series.
This study also uses specific theories, particularly the theories that are related to
humor, namely the theory about incongruity of Thomas Shultz and Jerry Suls,
which will be elaborated in the next chapter of this thesis.
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The research topic is significant since it will make people aware that the
non-observance of maxims can result in the occurrence of humor. As humor is the
main factor that makes this comedy series become so popular, it is believed that
this research is worth doing and that people who read this thesis will be wellinformed about non-observance of the Gricean maxims; they will realize how it
can result in the occurrence of humor, and later they will be able to appreciate the
value of humor in human communication.
(756 words)
Statement of the Problems
In this thesis, the analysis is done to answer the following research
questions:
1. What utterances in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 are
categorized as non-observance of Gricean maxims?
2. What type of non-observance of Gricean maxims do the speakers in Disney’s
Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 fail to observe?
3. How does the non-observance of maxims result in the occurrence of humor?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problems, this study purposes
1. to find the utterances in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3 that
are categorized as non-observance of the Gricean maxims;
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2. to categorize the type of non-observance of the Gricean maxims that the
speakers fail to observe in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody seasons 1-3;
3. to explain how the non-observance of the Gricean maxims results in the
occurrence of humor.
Method of Research
This thesis has taken four steps to be accomplished. The first step was
searching and downloading Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody comedy series
from the Internet to be used as the source of the research data. The second was
preparing the theories of Pragmatics, especially those related to non-observance of
the Gricean maxims and to humor. Afterwards, the theories were used to analyze
the data and finally, when the analysis was done, the research report was written.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction,
which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problems, Purpose of
the Study, Method of Research, and also the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter
Two is Theoretical Framework, which presents the definitions and also the
elaborations of H.P. Grice’s theories regarding non-observance of maxims and
theories of humor used to analyze the data. Chapter Three provides the analysis of
the data. Chapter Four, which is the last chapter in this thesis, covers the
conclusion of the analysis. Bibliography and Appendix are presented at the end of
the thesis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the data found in Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody
seasons 1-3, there are some findings regarding the occurrence of humor due to the
non-observance of the Gricean maxims in the comedy series.
Out of the five types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims, there are
only three types that can be found in the data, which are: flouting the maxim,
infringing the maxim, and violation of the maxim. The types of suspending the
maxim and opting out of the maxim are not found in the analysis.
The type of flouting the maxim outnumbers the other two types by the
total of sixteen. I believe the reason for flouting the maxim to be the most
dominant type in this comedy series is that flouting the maxim forces the audience
to look for another plausible answer, which may lead to a humorous scene.
Furthermore, I believe that flouting the maxim is the most common type of nonobservance that occurs in our daily life. As stated in Chapter One, comedy series
can be a reflection of what happens in real life. This comedy series, which tells a
story of an ordinary family with a middle class status and their environment, can
describe what happens in our life.
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There are eleven data categorized as infringing the maxim and there are
two data that belong to violation of the maxim. According to the analysis,
infringing of the maxim is mostly done by London. I am of the opinion that the
reason behind this finding lies on the depiction of London in the comedy series.
As it is presented in the analysis, London is portrayed as someone who has a
cognitive deficiency. She is a person who has a difficulty in understanding the
context of a situation. The character of London in the comedy series somehow
makes such a strong effect to the audience that makes them believe that when it
comes to infringing a maxim, London will have something to do with it. This
contributes quite a lot to the humorous effect.
Apart from that, in terms of the violation of the maxims, Carey Martin,
who is the mother of the twins, seems to be the character who does it the most.
This result leads the audience to acquire a different effect. From the analysis of
the violation of the maxim, I come to a conclusion that the type of maxim
violation can also be used for good intention. It can be seen that the intention of
Carey misleading another character is for a good purpose.
In the case of London, for example, it can be seen that the purpose of
Carey when misleading London in scene 9 is to respect London’s feeling. Carey
does not want to hurt London’s feeling. In order to do so, she misleads London by
saying that she is assigned to be the alternate for the team. While the truth is,
London is not permitted to play in the bowling competition due to the fact that
Mr. Moseby thinks that she does not have the capability of bowling.
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All data of the flouting of the maxims can be seen in the speech events that
involve Zack and Cody. In my opinion, due to the fact that this comedy series puts
Zack and Cody as the main protagonists, the data will likely tell the story of both
of them. Furthermore, throughout the series, I have noticed that by analysing Zack
and Cody’s utterances regarding every situation, I can see how Zack’s personality
is different from Cody’s. The differences of their personalities can be seen on how
they cope with every situation.
In terms of the types of flouting the maxims, the type that frequently
occurs throughout the series is the type of flouting the maxim of relation, in total
of six data. While there are only four data that show flouting the maxim of
manner, five data that result in flouting the maxim of quantityand one data that
show flouting the maxim of quality.
The theory of humor of Thomas Shultz is applied in the data analysis by
comparing and resolving the incongruous aspect of the utterance and later
resolving the differences between the expectation of the audience and the punch
line of each speech event. In all the data, the humor occurs because of the
expectation and prediction of the audience that are not always proved to be right.
I personally believe that the application of this particular humor theory is
suitable because this comedy series revolves around people’s daily life. This
comedy series is a family comedy that can easily relate with the audience because
they may have the same experience as the characters in the comedy series. The
audience may have their own expectation and prediction of the situation, yet their
prediction is not always proved to be right. By being able to resolve the
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incongruous aspects in the comedy series and making sense of it in one way, they
may find the utterances to be humorous.
For further researchers who are interested in analyzing the non-observance
of the Gricean maxims in comedy series, I would like to suggest in analyzing the
sequel of Disney’s Suite Life of Zack and Cody entitled Suite Life on Deck. Once
again, the story revolves around Zack and Cody and their surrounding as they
become teenagers. Another Disney’s comedy series such as Wizards of Waverly
Place that tells a story of a family who happens to possess magical powers would
also be interesting to be analyzed. In addition, Disney’s That’s So Raven tells the
story of an everyday African-American family. Those comedy series would be
fascinating to analyze because they may have different issues. As it is reflected in
reality, those comedy series give a variety in terms of everyday issues. Thus, it
would be interesting to find out the similarities between the comedy series and the
reality.
(985 words)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Source
Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Dir. Richard Correll, Lex Passaris, Jim Drake, Danny
Kallis, and Kelly Sandefur. Perf. Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Brenda
Song, Ashley Tisdale, Phill Lewis, Kim Rhodes. Disney, 2005. DVD.
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Goldstein, Jeffrey H. “Cognitive Processes in Humor Apreciation.” Handbook of
Humor Research. By Paul E. McGhee. Vol. 1. New York: Springer New
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“Grice's Conversational Maxims.” Cog.brown.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2013.
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Thomas, Jenny. "Conversational Implicature." Meaning in Introduction: An
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