The cooperative principle by Paul Grice

1. THE COOPERATIVE PRICIPLE
BY PAUL GRICE

2. Usually when we speak the listener expect us
to say the truth and to be relevant and clear.
The English philosopher, Paul Grice, suggested
that in ordinary conversation, the speaker and
hearer share a cooperative principle. Speakers
shape their utterances to be understood by
hearers. Grice analyzes cooperative principle in
four maxims: quantity, quality, relevance, and
manner.

3. 1- The maxim of quality (“Tell the
truth”)
Do not say what you believe to be false.
Do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence.

4. For
Example
Imagin this, a husband asking his spendthrift wife
how much you spend on the dress? the assuption
behind that question is that she spent alot, but
she answered not much! Which is a lie because
she always spend alot on buying clothes. So, we
can clearly say that she violated the maxum of
quality.

5. 2- The maxim of quantity (“Say just as much
as is necessary”)
Make your contribution as informative as is
required for the current purposes of the
exchange, do not make the contribution more
or less informative than is required.

6. For example
Mum: how was your first day at school?
Sara: Fine!
Here the mother asked her daughter a question,
and she expected her daughter to give her more
details about her first day at school. But, the
daughter violates the maxim of quantity by giving
her information less than requaired.
But what about if the daughter answered her
mother's question by giving her information more
than required. Mentioning every and each detail
even unnecessary ones, also, in that case she is
violating the maxim of quantity by giving her
information more than required

7. 3- The maxim of relation / relevance
(“Stick to the point”)
Make your contributions relevant.

8. For example
Lets go back to our spendthrift wife. In the
previous example when the husband asked
his wife how much you spend on the dress
she answered not much, which is a lie. But
what if she answered like that (why don’t we
eat out for a change?) so, we can
understand that she is trying to change the
subject, and she is deliberately violating the
maxim of relation.

9. 4- The maxim of manner (“Be clear”)
" it means to avoid obscurity of
expression and ambivalence of
formulation. Brevity and orderliness are
also implied by the maxim of Manner.“

10. For
exampleA brother asking his sister
Ahmad: do you know where my phone is?
Maha: your phone! Do you know that using phones alot
can damage your brain. They are more dangoures than
you think, how about trying to stop using your phone for
a week!?
So, as shown above Ahmed asked a question and he was
expecting a specific and clear answer, but, we can clearly
see that the talkative Maha was not clear. Instead she
gave him a speech, so, she is obviously violating the
maxim of manner.

11. The question is can the cooperative
principles be applied on other
languages?

12. Despite of the different languages that are
existing around the world. The cooperative
principles can actually be applied in other
language. Since it deals with cognitive and
implicit information, for example, in Arabic
language we can apply the four maxims which
are, quality, quantity, relation and manner

13. We can clearly see that the receiver has violated the
maxim of quality by lying.
‫عمرك؟‬ ‫كم‬
(How old are you?)
‫عمري‬200‫سنة‬
(I'm 200 years old)
1- The maxim of
Quality

14. The receiver here is giving information more than it is
required so he is violating the maxim of quantity.
‫عمرك؟‬ ‫كم‬
(How old are you?)
‫جيد‬ ‫سؤال‬ ‫من‬ ‫له‬ ‫يا‬,‫هو‬ ‫عمري‬ ‫إن‬ ً‫ا‬‫حسن‬
‫ضرب‬ ‫حاصل‬2‫في‬6‫زائد‬10
‫من‬ ‫مطروحة‬2!
(That's a good question. Well,
my age is 2×6+10 -2)
1- The maxim of
quantity

15. The receiver here is not being relevant to the question
that he has been asked.
‫عمرك؟‬ ‫كم‬
(How old are you?)
‫إني‬‫القدم‬ ‫كرة‬ ‫أحب‬
)I love playing football)
3-The maxim of
relation

16. The receiver answer is ambiguous and not clear
‫عمرك؟‬ ‫كم‬
(How old are you?)
‫ولم‬ ‫شابه‬ ‫مازلت‬ ‫إنني‬‫أهرم‬‫حياتي‬ ‫إن‬ ‫بعد‬
‫للتو‬ ‫بدأت‬ ‫قد‬!
)I still young and I did not get
old yet. My life just begin)
4-The maxim of
manner

17. In conclusion, we always use the cooperative
principle when we talk. At the same time,
we always violate the maxims. But, still
the massage that we want to convey is
being understood for the most cases. And
indeed "Grice’s cooperative principle could
be seen as a great contribution in
suggesting an effective principle."
(Academia)

18. Thank you
Khulood Bukhari