#2 - Option B: Grice's Four Maxims

In chapter 5, Grice argues that conversation is a joint activity--an activity which cannot be achieved without the cooperation of its participants. He believes that “what speakers mean…generally go beyond what they actually say”, that is, most of the time, when a sentence is utter by a speaker, there are implicatures behind the sentence, or, a sentence’s meaning is composed of saying and implicating. In today’s world, where most are technologically-savvy, it is more important than ever to eliminate confusion and get information across as efficiently as possible. In order to best understand what a speaker’s implications are, Grice comes up with four maxims for speakers to abide by.

The first one, maxim of quantity, says that the speaker should say as much as is necessary (not any more or less) to get his point across, that is, to be informative without being verbose. This is seen on a regular basis in text messaging. For example, when A text messages B, “When are you going to the meeting?”, and B replies, “I’m going to the meeting at five o’clock, and afterwards I’m going to Jill’s house,” it would violate this maxim for two reasons: 1. the part about Jill’s house is unnecessary, A didn’t ask B what B is going to do after the meeting, A only asked at what time B will be going to the meeting. 2.With text messaging, one rarely types words out in complete sentences because it’s very time-consuming and in this case, it would be extra information. B needn’t say “I’m going to the meeting at five o’clock” because A only asked for a time, so a simple “5” would do—it would be sufficient for A to understand what “5” means because A had just asked for a time.

Second is the maxim of quality, which states that the speaker shouldn’t say things which he believe are untrue and does not have too much knowledge on. In the world of text messaging and IMs, where immediacy is nonexistent, this maxim is even more important. Take sarcasm for instance, if spoken face-to-face, one can usually detect it, from the speaker’s tone-of-voice and facial expressions. But if moved to an online setting, the addressee’s detection of sarcastic remarks is not so certain. For example, if A and B both went to see a stand-up comedy which both of them, individually, did not enjoy, and A asks B later, on AIM, “What did you think of the show?” and B, who thinks A knows that he did not enjoy it, says “It was wonderful!” A will be confused, will have false information about B’s attitude towards the show, or (unlikely) detect B’s sarcasm. Three things can happen: 1. if A believes B didn’t like it, then, with what B just told A, A will be confused because what B said does not coincide with what A thinks. 2. A believes B didn’t like it, and caught on B’s sarcasm (somehow). 3. A believed B’s statement about the show, thereby having false knowledge about B’s opinion of the show. So, unless the sarcastic remark is truly blatant and obvious, it would be hard for addressee’s to detect in an online setting.

The third maxim is the maxim of relation, which encourages the speaker to be germane, and stay on topic, during a conversation. If A has been talking to B about a movie and asks, “What time was Anita killed?”, and B replies, “This pen writes in blue ink,” understanding full well what A meant, B’s contribution to the conversation is not relevant and therefore should be omitted otherwise running the risk of implicating to A that he has not understood A’s previous question which can result in confusion.

Lastly, the maxim of manner urges speakers to avoid being ambiguous and express themselves in a way so that others can understand them. They should also be orderly with their wording. Again, conciseness and informing are stressed here.

Even though Grice’s maxims aren’t all one needs to understand another, they significantly increase the understanding of implicatures and reduce the chance of misunderstanding and confusion when used properly.