The Maxim of Relevance
In Grice’s Maxim of Relevance the speaker wants to contribute to the conversation and the information should pertain to the topic of discussion. I am someone who likes to joke around and if I walk into a conversation among friends, I might just say something that is off topic to be humorous.
Friends: What movie is playing at 9:00.
Me: I don’t know, but I heard its cold in there.
Friend: Why is it cold?
Me: Because they were serving chillllli and burrrittooos in the theatre.
The Maxim of Quality
Grice’s Maxim of Quality states the a person’s intention to contribute to a conversation should be true. I know that there are times when I have walked into a conversation half way through and provided some imput on the situation, when I should have never started talking in the first place.
Friends: Tina then said she was throwing a party on Saturday.
Me: Tina would never do that and there is no way she will throw that party.
Friend: Well she said to show up around 7:00.
Me: I would talk to her first before going over.
Friend: If you were here five minutes ago, you would have seen Tina talking to us about her party.
Me: Well she’s going home this weekend.
Friend: Tina changed her plans because her parents are going away.
The Maxim of Quantity
Grice’s Maxim of Quantity states that a person should provide information that is concise, accurate, and to the point. Again, I would say that there are some situations in life where you really feel that urge to get under your friends nerves.
Friend: Well how was your trip.
Me: We had a good time and the weather was great.
Friend: What did you do?
Me: A lot of things.
Friend: Like….
Me: Do you really want to know everything we did? I don’t think so. We just had a good time.
Friend: What was such a good time.
Me: Ok here we go. We arrived in the hotel at 1:00 on Friday. We went to the room and then unpacked our clothes and put everything away like my shampoo, body wash, toothbrush…. Then it was around 2:00 we decided to get a drink and we brought it back to the room and sat on the porch until 5:00. Then it was time for dinner. I had a mozzarella sticks that came with marinara sauce. There was actually five of them all together. Then we ……
Friend: Ok, be like that!
Me: What! You wanted to know everything I did.
Friend: I was just asking to be a good friend, but you had to make it difficult.
The Maxim of Manner
Grice’s Maxim of Manner implies that a person should present their information in a short and brief manner. I tend to think of some students who have a hard time keeping their comments brief. The students are learning to communicate effectively and there are times when they have trouble speaking their thoughts.
Teacher: Who can tell me about a time when they went to the zoo?
Student: Well, we went to a place where they had this show, and we sat in this where there were these… Oh and there was a lady who was selling lollipops before the show, and the animals came in which these people, who let us pet them.
Teacher: Oh! That’s great. You went to a zoo that had a place where you could pet the animals. That must have been great!
Student: Yeah, it was fun!
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