Blog 6: Maxims

This blog entry is about maxims of conversation, sometimes called Grice's maxims, after the person who made the term. A conversational maxim is a rule that a speaker is assumed to follow. There are 4 maxims of conversation. This article states what the maxims are, and I will go more in depth on them here.

https://www.usingenglish.com/articles/grices-conversational-maxims.html

1: Maxim of quantity. Say as much information as needed. Don't say more or less. When Person A asks a question such as "What are you doing?" and Person B says "something", Person B has gone against this maxim by saying too little information. If Person B says "I am reading a book so i can know all of the information that i need to know in order to pass the class and then in turn get a good job" now he has gone against the maxim by giving too much info. In order to follow this maxim, Person B would have had to say "I am reading a book."

2: Maxim of Relevance. This maxim requires that a person should be relevant. If Person A asks "What are you doing tonight?" and Person B says "I am going to fly to Chicago next week" Person B has violated this maxim by saying something completely irrelevant to what the other person has asked. To follow this maxim, Person B would have had to have said something along the lines of "I am going to do homework tonight."

3: Maxim of Manner. This maxim requires the person to be brief and orderly, and to avoid ambiguity and obscurity. This one is hard to make a specific example of, due to what it is. A general example though, would be if Person A said something to Person B, and Person B started spouting out incoherent nonsense for an extended period. Person B would be breaking the rules of this maxim because it wouldn't be short or orderly. It also would border obscurity.

4: Maxim of Quality. This one requires truthfulness. This one can be as simple as if Person B robbed a store. Person A asked if Person B did it, and Person B says no. Person B is being untruthful and therefore breaking not only the law, but the rule of this maxim.

Overall, I think that Grice's maxims are pretty interesting, and it would be very useful if we could learn to fully understand them all.