Cooperative principle in communication
Ever since God wanted to disrupt the construction of the tower of Babel, human beings keep thinking about how to communicate with each other more efficiently. Grice’s cooperative principle describes how people achieve effective conversational communication in common social situations. That is, the speaker and the listener cooperate to exchange meaning. there are four maxims of the cooperative principle to regulate the conversation which are: Quantity, Quality, Relevance, and Manner. Quantity: Say no less than the conversation requires. Say no more than the conversation requires. A: Are you hungry? B: Not at all. I just had some steak, lobster, bread, pasta, chocolate lava cake with my date. In this case, B provided more details than A required, so it is a counterexample of the maxim of quantity. Quality: Don't say what you believe to be false. Don't say things for which you lack evidence. A: Are you hungry? B: Um...not really. (I’m hungry but ...