Analysis of the Non-Observance of the Maxims that Builds the Conflict in Devious Maids TV Series Season 1.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya menganalisis konflik dari sebuah film seri drama yang berjudul Devious Maids Musim Pertama. Konflik tersebut terjadi karena adanya pelanggaran oleh penutur terhadap bidal.

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menggunakan teori H. P. Grice. Di dalam teori Grice disebutkan bahwa penutur dapat menyampaikan pesan yang benar kepada peserta tutur, apabila komunikasi yang terjadi didasarkan dengan mempertimbangkan Prinsip Kerjasama Grice yang terdiri dari empat bidal yaitu bidal kualitas, kuantitas, relevansi dan pelaksanaan.

Setelah saya menganalisis bidal berdasarkan teori Grice, saya menemukan tokoh tokoh utama, yaitu pembantu rumah tangga Zoila, Valentina dan Carmen, serta tuan atau nyonya yang kaya raya, yaitu Allison, Henri, Phillipe dan Alejandro, seringkali melanggar bidal tertentu ketika berkomunikasi satu sama lain. Pelanggaran bidal ini menyebabkan konflik terjadi di antara mereka. Mereka melanggar bidal bidal tertentu karena mereka mempunyai implikatur yang seharusnya dimengerti oleh lawan bicara mereka.

Pelanggaran bidal yang sering terjadi di dalam serial Devious Maids Season

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS...ii

ABSTRACT...iii

CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1. Background of the Study ... 1

1.2. Statement of the Problem ... 4

1.3. Purpose of the Study ... 4

1.4. Method of Research ... 4

1.5. Organization of the Thesis ... 4

CHAPTER TWO:THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

2.1 Pragmatics... 6

2.2 Conventional Implicature ... 7

2.3 Conversational Implicature ... 7

2.4 Cooperative Principle ... 7

2.5 Non-observance of the Maxims ... 9

2.5.1 Flouting a Maxim ... 9

2.5.1.1 Flouting the Maxim of Quality ... 9

2.5.1.2 Flouting the Maxim of Quantity ... 10

2.5.1.3 Flouting the Maxim of Relation ... 10

2.5.1.4 Flouting the Maxim of Manner ... 11

2.5.2 Violating a Maxim... 12

2.5.3 Infringing a Maxim ... 13

2.5.4 Opting out of a Maxim ... 13

2.5.5 Suspending a Maxim ... 14

2.6 Conflict ... 15

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF THE MAXIMS THAT BUILDS THE CONFLICT IN DEVIOUS MAIDSTV SERIES SEASON 1.. ... 16

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CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 34

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 39

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of the Study

Communication is a really important thing fora human being, because people always need others throughout their life. The easiest way for people to communicate is usually by talking. However, in many cases, people cannot convey their real intention in their utterances. This may create a misunderstanding among people. Something that will be revealed from that misunderstanding is conflict. In this thesis I would like to analyse the misinterpretation of utterances between people which finally leads to conflict.

In this thesis I use the pragmatic approach to do my analysis. Pragmatics is

“the study of the aspects of meaning and language use that are dependent on the

speaker, the addressee and the other features of the context of utterance” (“What is Pragmatics?”). The writer of the book Pragmatics, George Yule, says

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something unsaid must be recognized as apart of communication. He also states that the study of pragmatics is “the study of what gets communicated than is said” (3). Therefore from all the meanings above, the study of pragmatics involves the interpretation of what people actually mean in a particular context.

According to H. P. Grice, there are two kinds of implicature, namely conventional implicature and conversational implicature (Thomas 57). Tounderstand conversational implicature, Grice suggests using a Cooperative Principle, which states that speakers “make (their) contribution such as is required at the stage at what it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which (they) are engaged” (Thomas 62).

When the speaker fails to abide by this Cooperative Principles, his/her utterance will not be considered informative, truthful, relevant, or brief (Thomas 63). In other words, the speaker performs a non-observance of the Gricean maxims (Thomas 64). There are four maxims or rules of speaking, according to Grice, which we need to use. They are: quantity, quality, relation, and manner. This theory is the basic principle that is used to analyse all misinterpreted and sarcastic utterances and criticism by the speaker in the data.

The topic of my thesis is “Analysis of the Non-Observance of Maxims that

Builds the Conflict in Devious Maids TV Series Season 1.” I intend to analyse conflicts which happen because the characters often use implicatures to convey what creates conflict.

The data source that I use in this thesis is Devious Maids TV Series Season 1. The genre of this TV series is comedy-drama. Devious Maids TV series is a story about a scandalous life of four Latina girl friends who work as maids for rich

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families in Beverly Hills. They are Zoila, Valentina, Rosie and Carmen Luna. All of them are important maids for their boss. When one of their Latina friends was murdered, a man called Eddie, who works for the same boss, is accused as the murderer. Marisol, Eddie’s mother,does not believe her son has committed the murder. So she goes to Beverly Hills disguisedas a maid. She makes friends with the four Latina maids in the neighbourhood to find out the truth(“Devious Maids”).

Devious Maids TV series is a great material for my research because this TV

Series provides many examples of non-observance of the maxims (flouting a maxim, violating a maxim, and other ways of failing to observe the maxims). The characters in this TV Series often fail to observe the maxims and this consequently produces implicature that lead to many conflicts in the characters’ friendships, work and families. All utterances that I take for this thesis are those involving the maids: Marisol, Zoila, Valentina, Rosie and Carmen Luna.

This studyis significant because people will be aware that indaily conversation, people are inclined to say something different from what they intend, which creates an implicature in their utterance. This leads to conflicts because the utterance is not clearly understood by the hearer. The other function

of this study is to make people realizethe impact of the implicature,namely conflict. This analysis makes all readersmore critical in using an utterance to others and also in perceiving other’s utterances.

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In this thesis, I would like to analyze the following problems:

1. What types of non-observance of maxims are found in the utterances of

Devious Maids TV Series Season 1?

2. What is the implicature of each utterance?

3. How does the non-observance of the maxims lead to conflict(s)?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

In this thesis I intend:

1. To explain the types of the non-observance of maxims in Devious Maids TV Series Season 1.

2. To reveal the implicatures of each utterance.

3. To describe how the non-observance of maxims leads to conflict(s).

1.4 Method of Research

Firstly, I begin the research by finding the theories to analyse the data. Secondly, I watch several episodes of Devious Maids TV Series Season 1, and then I select the utterances as the data. I research all data, focusing on the maxims that the speaker fails to observe.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

The first chapter is Introduction,which consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is Theoretical Framework. Chapter

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Three contains the analysis of Devious Maids TV series and Chapter Four is the last chapter in my research, which will be the conclusion of the analysis. Finally this thesis ends with Bibliography and Appendix.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter I would like to give my concluding points based on my analysis in the previous chapter. I find many types of non-observance of Gricean maxims which lead to conflict in Devious Maids TV series season one. There are twenty two utterances in four scenesthat I analyse in this thesis. In twenty two utterances, there arethirty four instances of non-observance of the Gricean maxims. They are: one data of flouting the maxim of quality, seven data of flouting the maxim of quantity, eight data of flouting the maxim of relation, fourteen dataof flouting the maxim of manner and four dataof violating the maxim.

The most dominant type of non-observance of the Gricean maxim that I find in this thesis is flouting the maxim. In my opinion, the reason why the speakers flout the maxims are because the information they give are not clear and not in the right quantity. I find all of the maids, (Zoila, Carmen and Valentina),as dominant

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characters in this analysis, like to give long-winded utterances, not being straight to the point. They also often give irrelevant utterances. The same things also happen in the utterances of their boss (Allison, Phillipe, Henri and Alejandro). However, some of these rich boss sometimes like to make a lie to mislead others.

Flouting the maxim of manner is found in certain situations. The intention to criticize or satirize others is the first situation that makes someone flout the maxim of manner. The other thing is because the speaker tries to avoid being criticized by the other characters, or in other words, the speaker refuses to hear the

hearer’s judgement, opinion or statement. Besides, hoping that the hearer will fulfill what the speaker needs is the situation which leads the speaker to flout the maxim of manner. An example is when Henri is not straight to the point, he wants to invite Zoila to have sex with him. Moreover, expecting the hearer to tell the truth is the last situation that makes the speaker flouts the maxim of manner. Accordingly, there are situations that lead someone to be likely to flout the maxim of manner and generate implicature.

Flouting the maxim of quantity is committed by some characters with an intention to show a disagreement to another character’s utterances. Specifically, this happens when the speaker gives more information for particular reasons, such as the need to force or urge the other party to do something.The example of forcing is in the conversation of Allison and Valentina in scene 1. However, it is different when Zoila and Phillipe’s conflict in scene 3.Flouting a maxim of quantity is used to criticize the other speaker.Thus, there are various motives which lead the speaker to flout the maxim of quantity and generate implicature.

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There are seven utterances which flout the maxim of relation.Those utterances happen on three occasions. The first occasion is about refusal to give a response that the hearer asks and wants. This thing often happen because there are great expectations from the hearer to the speaker. The hearer wants the speaker do something that is really hard for the speaker to do. Therefore, that is speakersgive an implicature of their disagreement bychanging the topic or giving an irrelevant response. The second occasionis because the speaker wants to defend themselves from someone’s judgement, opinion or statement. Both the first and the second occasions happen because there is disagreement between the characters. The last occasion is to express the true intention, which cannot be explained directly because it is a sensitive matter. The speaker deliberately gives an irrelevant response to make the hearer knowabout the speaker’s true intention. Thus, there are many occasions that make the speaker flout the maxim of relation and produce implicature.

The only type of non-observance of the Gricean maxim in this thesis is flouting a maxim of quality. It is shown that most of the conflicts in Devious

Maidsdo not happen because the character usually says something untrue with an

intention to mislead another character. The flouting a maxim of quality happens because the speaker hints at something indirectly which contains a negative meaning to the hearer, such as an insult.

There are four violations of the maxims in the data that I have discussed. The first intention to make this violation happens because the speaker is afraid to admit a mistake. This is because he wants to keep her own image in front of other people. The second intention is because the speaker wishes the hearerto do what

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the speaker’s wants. Thereby, there are two different situations that can lead someone to commit a violation of a maxim.

In the data, infringing a maxim is not found because there is no child or foreign language. Moreover, there is no speaker who is nervous, drunk or had a disability to speak clearly that is possible to lead to conflict. Opting out of a

maxim can not be found because there is no ethical obligation which should not be stated by characters. It is also the same with suspending a maxim. There is no data involving suspending a maxim because Devious Maids TV series does not show any cultural beliefs which prohibit the speakers from mentioning something taboo in a certain community.

It can be concluded that theconflict in Devious Maids TV series season one which arise from non-observance of the Gricean maxim are mostly concerned with four main purposes: first, the intention to criticize; secondly, avoiding or defending themselves from anothercriticism; thirdly, refusal torespond to

someone’s opinion, statement or judgement; andlastly is about hoping that the hearer wouldknow or fulfil what the speaker’s true intention is. There are also four purposes which rarely happen. Those purposes are being afraid to admit a mistake, expressing the true intention which cannot be explained directly, forcing the hearer to do what the speaker wants and an intention to insult.

As the end of my conclusion, I hope this thesis will be helpful for everyone to be more sensitive or aware when using the maxims so as to avoid conflicts. For those who take the same topic, I advise choosing comedy-drama because it is very suitable for analyzing the conflict. I would also suggest to choose a series which

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has many episodes, because that kind of series can provide us with many data that are suitable to analyse with the theory of non-observance of the Gricean maxims.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Devious Maids,. Dir. David Warren, Tawnia McKiernan, John Scott, Tara-Nicole

and Wyr. Life Time, 2013. DVD.

Printed and Online References

“Conflict.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online, 2010.

Web. 16 Sept. 2014.

“Devious Maids.” IMDB, 2013. Web 6 June 2015.

Grice, Paul. Logic and Conversation. Berkeley: University of California, 2004. Print.

Horn, Laurence, and Gregory Ward. The zHandbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Print.

Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995. Print.

“What is Pragmatics?” SIL International, 2004. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP, 1996. Print.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter I would like to give my concluding points based on my analysis in the previous chapter. I find many types of non-observance of Gricean maxims which lead to conflict in Devious Maids TV series season one. There are twenty two utterances in four scenesthat I analyse in this thesis. In twenty two utterances, there arethirty four instances of non-observance of the Gricean maxims. They are: one data of flouting the maxim of quality, seven data of flouting the maxim of quantity, eight data of flouting the maxim of relation, fourteen dataof flouting the maxim of manner and four dataof violating the maxim.

The most dominant type of non-observance of the Gricean maxim that I find in this thesis is flouting the maxim. In my opinion, the reason why the speakers flout the maxims are because the information they give are not clear and not in the right quantity. I find all of the maids, (Zoila, Carmen and Valentina),as dominant

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characters in this analysis, like to give long-winded utterances, not being straight to the point. They also often give irrelevant utterances. The same things also happen in the utterances of their boss (Allison, Phillipe, Henri and Alejandro). However, some of these rich boss sometimes like to make a lie to mislead others.

Flouting the maxim of manner is found in certain situations. The intention to criticize or satirize others is the first situation that makes someone flout the maxim of manner. The other thing is because the speaker tries to avoid being criticized by the other characters, or in other words, the speaker refuses to hear the hearer’s judgement, opinion or statement. Besides, hoping that the hearer will fulfill what the speaker needs is the situation which leads the speaker to flout the maxim of manner. An example is when Henri is not straight to the point, he wants to invite Zoila to have sex with him. Moreover, expecting the hearer to tell the truth is the last situation that makes the speaker flouts the maxim of manner. Accordingly, there are situations that lead someone to be likely to flout the maxim of manner and generate implicature.

Flouting the maxim of quantity is committed by some characters with an intention to show a disagreement to another character’s utterances. Specifically, this happens when the speaker gives more information for particular reasons, such as the need to force or urge the other party to do something.The example of forcing is in the conversation of Allison and Valentina in scene 1. However, it is different when Zoila and Phillipe’s conflict in scene 3.Flouting a maxim of quantity is used to criticize the other speaker.Thus, there are various motives which lead the speaker to flout the maxim of quantity and generate implicature.

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There are seven utterances which flout the maxim of relation.Those utterances happen on three occasions. The first occasion is about refusal to give a response that the hearer asks and wants. This thing often happen because there are great expectations from the hearer to the speaker. The hearer wants the speaker do something that is really hard for the speaker to do. Therefore, that is speakersgive an implicature of their disagreement bychanging the topic or giving an irrelevant response. The second occasionis because the speaker wants to defend themselves from someone’s judgement, opinion or statement. Both the first and the second occasions happen because there is disagreement between the characters. The last occasion is to express the true intention, which cannot be explained directly because it is a sensitive matter. The speaker deliberately gives an irrelevant response to make the hearer knowabout the speaker’s true intention. Thus, there are many occasions that make the speaker flout the maxim of relation and produce implicature.

The only type of non-observance of the Gricean maxim in this thesis is flouting a maxim of quality. It is shown that most of the conflicts in Devious

Maidsdo not happen because the character usually says something untrue with an

intention to mislead another character. The flouting a maxim of quality happens because the speaker hints at something indirectly which contains a negative meaning to the hearer, such as an insult.

There are four violations of the maxims in the data that I have discussed. The first intention to make this violation happens because the speaker is afraid to admit a mistake. This is because he wants to keep her own image in front of other people. The second intention is because the speaker wishes the hearerto do what

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the speaker’s wants. Thereby, there are two different situations that can lead someone to commit a violation of a maxim.

In the data, infringing a maxim is not found because there is no child or foreign language. Moreover, there is no speaker who is nervous, drunk or had a disability to speak clearly that is possible to lead to conflict. Opting out of a maxim can not be found because there is no ethical obligation which should not be stated by characters. It is also the same with suspending a maxim. There is no data involving suspending a maxim because Devious Maids TV series does not show any cultural beliefs which prohibit the speakers from mentioning something taboo in a certain community.

It can be concluded that theconflict in Devious Maids TV series season one which arise from non-observance of the Gricean maxim are mostly concerned with four main purposes: first, the intention to criticize; secondly, avoiding or defending themselves from anothercriticism; thirdly, refusal torespond to someone’s opinion, statement or judgement; andlastly is about hoping that the hearer wouldknow or fulfil what the speaker’s true intention is. There are also four purposes which rarely happen. Those purposes are being afraid to admit a mistake, expressing the true intention which cannot be explained directly, forcing the hearer to do what the speaker wants and an intention to insult.

As the end of my conclusion, I hope this thesis will be helpful for everyone to be more sensitive or aware when using the maxims so as to avoid conflicts. For those who take the same topic, I advise choosing comedy-drama because it is very suitable for analyzing the conflict. I would also suggest to choose a series which

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has many episodes, because that kind of series can provide us with many data that are suitable to analyse with the theory of non-observance of the Gricean maxims.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Devious Maids,. Dir. David Warren, Tawnia McKiernan, John Scott, Tara-Nicole

and Wyr. Life Time, 2013. DVD.

Printed and Online References

“Conflict.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online, 2010.

Web. 16 Sept. 2014.

“Devious Maids.” IMDB, 2013. Web 6 June 2015.

Grice, Paul. Logic and Conversation. Berkeley: University of California, 2004. Print.

Horn, Laurence, and Gregory Ward. The zHandbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Print.

Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995. Print.

“What is Pragmatics?” SIL International, 2004. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP, 1996. Print.