Speech Acts, Meaning, and Grice's Maxims of Conversation

1. The Five Main Types of Speech Acts According to J.R. Searle:

1. Representatives, which commit the speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition (paradigm case: asserting, concluding).
2. Directives, which are attempts by the speaker to get the addressee to do something.
3. Commissives, which commit the speaker to some future course of action.
4. Expressives, which express a psychological state.
5. Declarations, which effect immediate changes in the institutional state of affairs and which tend to rely on elaborate extralinguistic institutions.

2. Meaning:

Grice makes a distinction between two types of meaning:

• Natural Meaning: This is the kind of meaning something has when it is a natural and reliable sign or symptom of, or evidence for, something. Natural meaning rests on law-like relations in the world.
  Ex: Black clouds mean rain.
• Non-Natural Meaning: On the contrary, this is the kind of meaning distinctive of linguistic expressions and communication.
  So, for instance, we have a convention that the red light means "stop."
  Natural meaning isn't conventional. For instance, "Yellow skin means you have jaundice." The sign for jaundice here is natural, i.e., not conventional.

3. The Cooperative Principle:

The cooperative principle is about cooperation between one another.

When two people speak, we can presuppose that they cooperate to make meaning. To make meaning properly, we have so-called maxims of conversations, which are the following: Quality, quantity, relation, and manner.

4. Grice's Nine Maxims of Conversation:

These nine components are grouped together into four categories:

The Maxims of Quality

Which basically means to tell the truth.

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

The Maxims of Quantity

Which means that messages should be as economical as possible.

1. Make your contribution as informative as is required.
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

The Maxims of Relation

We should only reply correctly according to the conversation.

If someone asks the time, you can't answer, "I'm 23 years old" because it makes no sense.

1. Be relevant.

The Maxims of Manner

We should give information clearly and orderly without confusing our partner.

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
2. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
4. Be orderly.

5. Examples of Violation of Each Maxim:

Maxims of Quantity:

A: Do you have school tomorrow?
B: I have classes all day, but I must go to the doctor when I'm finished.

In the example, B violates the maxim because of too much information, rather than providing a yes or no answer.

Maxims of Quality:

A: Is Lima in Mexico?
B: Sure, and Philadelphia is in Florida.

In the example, B provides incorrect information to A.

Maxims of Relevance:

A: Where is my candy?
B: Mine is missing too.

In the example, B does not provide a relevant answer to A's question; instead, something completely unrelated is said.

Maxims of Manner:

A: How is Kate today?
B: She's alive.

In the example, B violates the maxim by responding with a statement that is ambiguous.