The cooperate principle and conversational implicature and the use in Gossip Girl

【Abstract】：The cooperation principle was putted forward by a famous American linguist H.P. Grice in his works\"Logic and conversation\".He believed that in the preceding discussion，speakers and listeners involved in the conversation are cooperating with each other consciously or unconsciously. And usually speakers disobey it to achieve their aims appropriately.This paper focuses on the cooperation principle， conversational implication and their use in Gossip Girl.

【Key words】 ：cooperative principle ; maxim; conversational implication; Gossip Girl

I. The Cooperation Principle

A.The maxim of quantity

Make your contributions as informative as is required （for the current purpose of the exchange）.Do not make your contributions more informative than is required.

From the above，the maxim of quantity is that one should give enough contributions，no more no less，just the right quantity.

Example1： A：How is the weather？ B：It's fine today.

In this conversation，B followed the maxim of quantity.It means that B give the appropriate contributions.

Example2：A：what is Labor Day and why do we celebrate it ？B ： Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September. It is a day set aside to honor the working people of the United States and to give them an official day of rest .

In this conversation，the quantity of the contribution given by B is appropriate.What B answered are just the right answers to the questions.

B.The maxim of quality

Do not say that you believe to be 1.Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.That is to say，one isn't supposed to give the wrong contributions of even contributions he doesn't quite sure.There should be evidence to illustrate his contribution is true to avoid individual proposal.

Example：A ： Have you met Sam recently ？B ： Yes ， I have.

In this conversation，B gives an affirmative sentence indicating that he have saw Sam recently and he shows a true information which lead to a further discussion.

C.The maxim of relation

Be relevant. The speakers are supposed to give contributions referring to the conversation.And this helps to form a coherent conversation.

Example：

M ： What are you going to do tonight ， Betty ？

W ： I’m going to eat at the new Chinese restaurant .

M ： Really ？ I was there last night .

W ： Were there many people there ？

M ： Yes ， a lot .

W ： How was the food ？

M ： It was delicious. The vegetables were very fresh. But the service was not good enough ， I’m afraid.

In this conversation，both M and W are focus on the topic\"the new Chinese restaurant\".Both the two speakers obey the maxim of relation. Their questions and answers are connected with each other.

D.The maxim of manner

Be perspicuous. Avoid obscurity of expression. Avoid ambiguity. Be brief . Be orderly. The main idea of this maxim is perspicuous.Speakers are supposed to make their idea clearly.The contribution should be a logical order and express a clearly idea.

Example：W ： Excuse me ， sir. Could you show me the way to the Grand Theater ？

M ： Go straight down this road until you come to the traffic lights ， then turn right to Market Street ， walk three blocks and the Theater is behind a fountain. You can’t miss it .

In this conversation，W doesn’t know how to get the destination and ask M.In M’s answer， we can see that he gives the right answer.What he said is just W wants to know.And the answer is perspicuous，brief，orderly ，and not ambiguity.

II. Conversational Implication

In our life，because of the need of communication，we usually don’t obey the cooperation principles.We usually disobey them to achieve our aim.Sometimes we don’t want to hurt others or don’t want others to know the truth or something else，we have to disobey the maxims.Conversational implication is meaning behind the literal meaning.It usually has special intention.

III. Instance analysis of using the the cooperation principle and conversational implication

Next， I’ll analysis living examples which disobey the cooperate principle to achieve conversational implicature in Gossip Girl.

A.The disobey of the maxim of quantity

Rufus： Dan， Jenny ， over here ！

Jenny ： Hey，dad ！

Rufus：Hey，hey， you made it！Welcome back.How was your weekend？How’s your mom？

Dan：fine.

Jenny：She’s good.Uh， fine and good.

Dan：she’s…she’s good and fine.

Rufus：Like”maybe I never should’ve left Manhattan” fine or “taking a time-out from "my marriage was the best idea I ever have” fine？

Dan：Dad， you know what？ I- I am， uh I’m starving.

This dialogue happened at a railway station after Dan and Jenny spent their weekends in their mother’s house in Manhattan.When their father Rufus asked them something about their weekends and their mother. Dan and Jenny replied nearly at the same time.Dan said “fine”，Jenny said”she’s fine and good”， and then Dan added”she’s good and fine”.Their answers are obviously not enough for their dad，that is Rufus wanted to know more about their weekends and their mom.So he asked again “Like ’maybe I never should’ve left Manhattan’ fine or ‘taking a time-out from my marriage was the best idea I ever have’ fine？”.At this time，Dan said he was hungry to refuse answer the question.The two children’s answer”she’s good and fine” disobey the maxim of quality， so their father asked the next question. Maybe Dan and Jenny didn’t want their father know about their mother’s life or they didn’t know how to answer their father’s question.

B.The disobey of the maxim of quality

1）Bart：Lily， how are you？

Lily：Oh Bart， hello. How are you？

Bart：Hey， Eric. How’s Miami？

Eric：It was good， thanks. You know， go Marlin. Would you excuse me， please？

2）Howie：Eric， good to see you. You enjoy Miami？

Eric：Uh， yeah. Save the manatees.

Jenny：Manatees？

Eric：It’s a long story.

The above two dialogues are connected with Eric. They happened at ivy communication meeting. Serena and her mother Lily brought Eric to take this meeting from therapeutic center. But Lily lied to her friends before that she told her friends Eric went to Miami instead of staying in the therapeutic center. So when they asked Eric about Miami， in order to not broke up his mother’s words， he used”good”， “go Marlin” and “save the manatees” to answer their questions.In fact， Eric disobey the maxim of quality. Because he stayed all his time in New York， he didn’t go to Miami.

C.The disobey of maxim of relation

Dan：Hey dad， listen！ I gotta Run. Are you gonna be okay？

Rufus：Yeah. Yeah. Your mom will be back. She’s always been a free spirit. That’s nbsp;one of the reasons I fell for her in the first place.

Dan：I meant with the fliers.

In this dialogue， Dan accepted his younger sister’s short message， so he had to leave. And he asked his father if his father could handle the things by himself. In fact， he just wanted to express the idea that his father can stick the fliers or not. However， his father didn’t miss understood what Dan said. His father said：”our mom will be back. She’s always been a free spirit. That’s one of the reasons I fell for her in the first place.“. And Dan said directly” I meant with the fliers”. In this dialogue， Rufus’s answer is away from the topic， so the answer disobey the maxim of relation. And from Rufus’s answer， we know that he loves his wife and want his wife to come back.

D.The disobey of maxim of manner

Serena：So how’s your mom doing with the divorce and everything？

Blair：Great. So my dad left her for another man. She lost 15 pounds. Got an eye lift. "It’s been good for her.

Serena：I’m really sorry.

Blair：Yeah， I could tell. Since you didn’t call or write the entire time it was happening.

Serena：No， I…I know， I was just…boarding school is like….

Blair：I don’t even know why you went to boarding school to begin with. Do you know how it felt calling your house when you didn’t show up at school and having your mom say”Serena didn’t tell you that she moved to Connecticut？”

Serena：I just. I…I had to go. I just…I needed to get away from everything.Please just trust me.

This dialogue happened between Serena and Blair after Serena came back from school. Serena didn’t connect with Blair and didn’t explain it.When they talked about Serena didn’t call or write the entire time when Blair felt very sad， Serena began to said vague words. She said：’I don’t even know why you went to boarding school to begin with. Do you know how it felt calling your house when you didn’t show up at school and having your mom say”Serena didn’t tell you that she moved to Connecticut？”’.And at this time， Serena still said vague words，she said：”I just. I…I had to go. I just…I needed to get away from everything.Please just trust me.” In this dialogue，Serena disobey the maxim of manner. She didn’t want to tell the truth， so she use vague words to reply.

IV、Conclusion

The examples above mostly come from the series Gossip Girl. There are so many dialogues deserving us to study. The cooperate principle and conversational implicature help us understand better about English country.

In our real life，we don’t always obey the cooperation principle.In stead，in most situations，we often disobey it to achieve our special intention.The cooperation principle suggests that speakers and listeners involved in the conversation are cooperating with each other.Although they disobey these maxims the conversational implicature also obey them，to some degrees.The conversational implicature usually occurs when people want to protect someone or don’t willing to tell the truth or don’t want to give information directly or even want to be humorous.As a result，the conversational implicature appears more in our life，we should learn how to use them appropriately and how to be politely.

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