3.The application of relation maxim
The process of communication is interaction.
The two parties should cooperate well. Thus, the content of their remarks
should be related to the communicative aim as well as connected with each
other. Therefore, they should observe relation maxim in communication. For
example:
(6) A: I’m out petrol.
B:
There is a garage on the corner.
Example (6) observes relation maxim. A wants
to get some petrol. B tells him that he can get petrol in a garage on the
corner. In (6), only when B’s answer is considered related with A’s question,
one could understand B has answered A’s question. The similar example is the
following:
(7) A: What’s the weather like tomorrow?
B:
You’d better take an umbrella if you want to go out tomorrow.
In example (7), A wants to know the weather
of tomorrow. And B’s answer implies that it’s raining tomorrow. The application
of relation maxim to real communication is significant, or when one party talks
about the east while the other party says the west, there is no communication,
but only self-murmuring.
4. The application of manner maxim
Manner maxim demands to make speech clear and
explicit. Look at the following examples that observe manner maxim:
(8) A: Do you have any date with a girl?
B: I’ll meet Xiao Li at the cinema gate at
7:00 this evening.
(9) A: Do you have any date?
B:
I’ve eaten them up.
In example (8), A emphasizes “any date with a
girl” in order to avoid ambiguity. Because the word “date” has two meanings:
first, an appointment with a man or woman; second a kind of plant whose fruit
can be eaten. Thus if A asks the question as in example (9), B may
misunderstand his question. So A gives the question as in (8) to observe the
second point of manner maxim—avoid ambiguity.
(10) Close the window.
In (10), the remark observes the third point
of manner maxim—be brief. The following examples can illustrate the fourth
point of manner maxim—be orderly.
(11) He was wounded and died.
(12) He died and was wounded.
Because people expect that the participants
of communication observe manner maxim, people conclude that in example (11),
two facts happen according to this order. But the remark in (12) is wrong
because facts cannot take place in that order.
From the above examples and his own practical
experience in communication, one can have an
understanding of the generalized
conversational implicature. However, in some circumstances, the speaker violates
the Maxims of Cooperative Principle intentionally and publicly in order to
achieve certain particular communicative aim and effect. In this case, the
particularized conversational implicature will be produced.