#2 Option B

Grice asserts that a critical component to effective communication is for both parties to cooperate – that is, to contribute to the conversation when necessary and to be sure that one’s contribution is aligned with the purpose or direction of the discussion. He introduces four maxims, which can be regarded as general rules of thumb, for achieving ideal cooperation.

The first of these is the maxim of quantity. Grice encourages speakers to be as informative as needed, but not to give an excess of information. For example, if I ask someone if I can borrow a pencil, I would expect him to either reply with, “Yes, I have a pencil,” or, “No.” If he had said, “Yes, I have five pencils,” then he would be giving me more than the required amount of information needed to complete the exchange, resulting in a lack of understanding.

Next is the maxim of quality, which states that one should say only that which he believes to be true and can support through sufficient evidence. It is easy to see that failure to follow this rule only leads to confusion and miscommunication. Guessing is discouraged – the goal of the speaker is to inform the listener of something, not to plant misinformation in his head.

Third, the maxim of relation says that one’s contributions to the conversation should be relevant to the current topic. This is a logical assertion, and perhaps the most important and far-reaching of the four. The participants of a conversation must stay on topic to make the flow of speech as smooth as possible.

Finally, the maxim of manner promotes conciseness and removal of ambiguity. A speaker wants to be sure that his message is received clearly and that his intentions are fully understood by the listener. This encourages speakers to be specific but not superfluous in their choice of words. They must choose terms that they are sure the addressee will understand.

Grice’s four maxims are closely related to the use of communicative technology. For example, when talking through text messages or instant messaging, time and technology constraints hinder a speaking from being as expressive as in face-to-face conversation. A speaker may need to take more time to formulate and express his ideas in such a way that they can be completely understood by the addressee. If he chooses instead to speak as quickly as possible, as one might want to do when sending a text message, he could be trading time for a lack of comprehension on the addressee’s part. The use of acronyms and abbreviations has become extremely popular, but the speaker must be sure that his meaning will be understood. Therefore, it becomes critical, especially when dealing with these new technologies, that the speaker be familiar with his audience and uphold the maxims, particularly those of quantity and manner.