The Flouting of Conversational Maxims in V for Vendetta

RUUBY, NESA (2016) The Flouting of Conversational Maxims in V for Vendetta. Diploma thesis, Universitas Andalas.

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Abstract

Speakers and listeners who are involved in conversation generally cooperate each other in order to make their communication run well and success. Based on that reason, Grice (in Yule, 1996:37) proposed a theory that is called Cooperative Principle. He assumes that in order to have successful conversation, we have to give our conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs and by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which we are engaged. In realizing the CP, Grice suggest that contribution to talk should be guided by four Conversational Maxims, as sub principle of CP. They are maxim of quality, quantity, relevance and manner. These maxims specify what the participants should do in order to converse efficiently, rational and cooperative-way. Grice did not claim that a speaker always observe the maxims in conversation process. In many occasions they sometimes fail to observe the maxims. There are five ways of failing to observe a maxim flouting, violating a maxim, infringing, opting out and suspending (Thomas, 1995:64). People may fail to observe a maxim for certain reason, for example, they evade are incapable of speaking clearly, or because they deliberately choose to lie. In this research, the writer only focuses on one failure in observing the maxim: flouting a maxim. This is the situation in which the speaker blatantly fails to 3 observe the maxims, not with any intention of deceiving or misleading but the speaker wishes to prompt the hearer to look for a meaning which is different from or in addition to, the expressed meaning(Thomas,1995:65). The flouting of maxims can occur when the speaker blatantly fails to observe the maxim at the level what is said and the hearer operates on the assumption that the maxim will be observed. The flouting of maxims can occur in each maxim and all of them have possibility to flout in every conversation. For example: Patricio has come to ask Baptista for his daughter’s hand in marriage Pet : and you good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter call’d Katherine, fair And virtuous? Bap : I have a daughter, sir, call’d Katherine. (Thomas, 1995:69) From the conversation above, Baptista flouts the maxim of quantity because he gives less information that is required by confirming that he has a daughter called Katherine, but omitting any mention to her fairness or virtue. Here, Baptista implies that his daughter does not possess these qualities to any marked degree. Based on the explanation, quotation and example above, the writer tries to conduct the research entitled “the flouting of conversational maxims in v for vendetta”. The writer chooses it as an object of his research, because the characters of the movie tend to fail to observe the conversational maxims when they want to convey their intention and purpose in a conversation.

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