The Weakpoints of Grices Cooperative Principle

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The Weakpoints of Grices Cooperative Principle
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Sperber and Wilson(1986) has challenged the
cooperative principle. They questioned it as the
overarching principle. They also questioned about
the relationships between the four maxims.
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They hold that each participant in communication
must make his contributions relevant to the topic
or to the information that has gone before. The
principle by which we are able to tell coherent
utterances from piles of irrelevantly connected
utterances is relevance. Relevance of one
utterance to another makes utterances coherent
and meaningful. But there exist differences of
degrees of relevance.
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A What is the time? B1 Its 1020
B2 The mail has already come. B1 is the
direct answer to A, therefore no inference is
called upon. B2 involves a series of inferences
before conclusion can be reached.
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Wilson and Sperber also hold that communicative
efficiency depends on two factors. One is the
amount of information conveyed, the other is the
processing amount of information received.
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The greater the relevance, the less inference,
therefore, the higher communicative efficiency.
The lower the relevance, the more inference,
therefore, the lower communicative efficiency.
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They hold that in communication, there is no such
a principle as cooperative principle, nor is
there observation or flouting of maxims of
conversation.
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They believe that communicative activities are
cognitive activities. The base for cognition is
relevance of utterances.
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The speaker not only has to clearly expresses
that he has information to offer, but also to
express that what he has conveyed has relevance
to the topic concerned. It is this relevance that
makes the recipients able to calculate the
reasonable implicature.
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Cooperative principle in itself can not explain
why people are often so indirect in conveying
what they mean and what is the relation between
sense and form when non-declarative types of
sentence are being considered.
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Horns Two Principles of Conversational
Implicature a)????(Q-principle) ???????? Make
your contribution adequate ?????????? Say as
much as you can (based on the principle of
relevance)
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b)????(R-principle) ??????????? Make you
contribution such as is required. ??????????
Dont make your contribution more than is
required.(based on the principle of quantity)
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The quantity principle stipulates that when the
speaker speaks P, he implicates P is the upper
limit. The relevance principle stipulates that
when the speaker speaks P, he implicates more
than P. This seems to be a paradox.
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In fact, the quantity principle prescribes the
upper limit on the utterance interpretation while
the relevance principles prescribes the lower
limit on the utterance interpretation.
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Based on the quantity principle, the listener
wants the speaker to provide adequate information
and to say as much as he can. If the information
provided has reached an upper limit, it will help
the listener to figure out the implicature that
the upper limit allows.
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Based on the relevance principle, the speaker has
provided the information that is necessary. He
will not say what is not necessary so that the
listener can work out the implicature that the
lower limit allows. When these two seemingly
paradoxical principles are put together, the
result is In communication, people always
tend to convey the greatest information with the
least (most economic) utterances.
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Horn also advances his theory of pragmatic
division of labour
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1)??????????? Relevance principle tends to
stereotypical interpretation If the speaker has
used a brief and unmarked expression U, then the
expression U possesses, in general, the
stereotypical implicature F out of all the
potential meanings it might have.
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2)???????????? Quantity principle tends to
non-stereotypical interpretation If the speaker
uses a non-conventional, marked and lengthy
expression M instead of a brief and unmarked
expression U, then the expression M will acquire
additional meaning. He implicates
non-stereotypical implicature G out of many
potential meanings.
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Stereotypical relation is an important concept.
It is the starting point for pragmatic inference.
The stereotypical relation can be linguistic,
involving a linguistic item or an expression or
extra-linguistic, involving the social, cultural
and situational factors. For example (19)
?????,??????? (20)He has had a few drinks too
many. (21) ?????,??????
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According to the relevance principle,
??implicates a female secretary because of
the stereotypical relation. drinks implicates
alcoholic drinks, therefore the implicature he
has got drunk. ??in Chinese culture is in
stereotypical relation to union. A bright full
moon will naturally remind a man in the strange
land of the family union.
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Lets see how Horns two principles work 22)A
Larry stopped the car. B Larry caused the
car to stop. 23)A ?????????? B
?????????????
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Utterance A in(22)implicates that Larry stopped
the car by conventional means, such as by using
the brake), but utterance B in (22) implicates
that Larry has used some non-conventional means
to stop the car. Utterance A in (23) simply
expresses a conventional wish while utterance B
has used an indirect way of expressing a wish,
therefore it implicates that he wants to go, but
cant.
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Horn?????????
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1)??????????? Relevance principle tends to
stereotypical interpretation If the speaker has
used a brief and unmarked expression U, then the
expression U possesses, in general, the
stereotypical implicature F out of all the
potential meanings it might have.
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2)???????????? Quantity principle tends to
non-stereotypical interpretation If the speaker
uses a non-conventional, marked and lengthy
expression M instead of a brief and unmarked
expression U, then the expression M will acquire
additional meaning. He implicates
non-stereotypical implicature G out of many
potential meanings.
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?????????????????????????????????????,????????????
?????????,??????,????????????????????????????????
?
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?????????????????????????????????????,????????????
?????,??????????????????????????
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??,??????????????????,??????????????????????
???????????????????????????????,???????
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??????????,??????????,???,???,?????????,??????????
??????,?????????????????????
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???????????,???????? 1)The door, please. 2)Its
stuffy here. 3)Open the door. 4)Open the door,
please.
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5)Would you mind opening the door? 6)I wonder if
you could open the door. 7)Id like you to
open the door. 8)Could you please be so kind as
to open the door? 9)I appreciate it very
much if you could be so kind as to open
the door.
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??,????????,?????????????????????????????????????9
)(I appreciate it very much if you could be so
kind as to open the door.)??,??????????????????,4)
( Open the door, please.)??,3)( Open the
door.)?????
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???3)( Open the door.)??,1)( The door,
please.)????????1)??????????????????,?????????????
??????,????,????,??????????? please!,???????????
??????
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???????????????????????????????????????????
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????????,??????5)( Would you mind opening the
door? ),???4)( Open the door, please.
),??????????????????,????????????????????
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?5)?????????????????,???????,?5)???????????4)????5
),????????????????????
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??,????????,Horn????????????????????,???????
?????????????,????? shallow??,deep????????????????
?????????????????
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???????,??????,????????Horn???????????????????????
,????????????????,???????????????,????????????????
???????????,Horn ?????????????????????
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???????????????,???????1)( The door, please.
),????????1)?????,?????????????????????????????3)(
Open the door.)?4)( Open the door,please.)?????,?
??????????????????????????,????????????????
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??????,Horn????????????????,??????????????????????
??????????????????????,?????????????????,?????????
????????????????
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Horn ??????????????????(1999171)???????????????
???????Horn ???????????? A ?????????? B
?????????????
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??????A(??????????)??????????????????????,??B(??
???????????)???????,?????????????????,?????????
???????
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??????????????????????????,???????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????
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A ?????????????? ???????? B. ??????
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A ?????????????? ???????? B. ??????
???????,???????????????????,????????????????
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A ?????????????? ???????????? B
???????,?????
???????????????????????????
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??????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????
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???(1999170)???Horn?????????????????????????????,
???????????????????,??????????????,???????????????
????
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????? A ?????,??????? B Whats the time?
The postman has already come.
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???????????,?A?????????????,?????????,??????
???,??????????????????????????,??????????,??
?A????????????????
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??,?????????????,??A????Horn???????????????????,??
????,???????????,?????????????????????,?????????
?,??????????????,??????,??????
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??,??????????????????,?????,??????,??????????
???????,??????????
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????????????????????,??????????,????????,????
????????????????,????Horn???????,????????????
??????????,?????????????
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???????B??????????????????????????????????,???????
???????????????
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??B?,????????????????,??????????????????????,?????
??????????,???????????????????????,????,???????
???????????????
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?????????????????,?????????????????????????,??
??????????????????????? ????????,?????????????
??????????????????,?????????????????????????????
??
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Levinsons Three Principles of Conversational
Implicature Levinson believes that the
understanding and the calculation of pragmatic
inferences can be based on three principles
quantity principle, information principle and
manner principle. Levinson also divides each
principle in terms of Speakers Maxim and
Recipients corollary(???????????)
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???? ?????????????????????????,???????????????
Don't make your statement informatively
weaker than you know unless what you have stated
is in conflict with the information
principle. ?????????????????????????????,??
The recipient believes that the speakers
statement is the strongest he can make about
what he knows.
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a)???????A(W),?ltS,Wgt?????????A(S)?A(W),
??,?????KA(S), ??????????????? If the speaker
says A(W) and ltS,Wgt forms a Horn scalei.e.
A(S)?A(W), then he implicates KA(S), that is,
he impicates that a higher or stronger point does
not obtain.
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b)??????A(W),?A(W)???????Q,??????A(S)???????Q,?ltS,
Wgt???????,?????K(Q),???????Q????? If the speaker
uses some linguistic expression that fails to
commit the speaker to some embedded proposition
in preference to another available stronger
expression that would so commit the speaker, then
speaker may be taken to implicate that the
speaker is not in the position to make the
stronger statement. In other words, the speaker
is not sure whether Q is true or not.
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???? ??????????(maxim of minimization)
?????,????????????????????(??????)
Minimize your contribution., that is, only
provide minimal linguistic information required
for the current purpose of the talk exchange.(
based on the Q-principle)
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?????????(Enrichment Rule) ??????????????,??????
??,???????????????? Amplify the information of
the speakers utterance,find out the most
definite understanding until ascertaining that it
is the speakers real intention.
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??? a) ?????????????????,?? Assume that
there is a stereotypical relation between the
objects and the events talked about,unless I)?????
??????? This disagrees with the ascertained
situations.
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II)???????????,???????????? The speaker
has violated the minimization principle by
selecting a lengthy expression.
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(b)?????????????????????,??????????????? If
the situation that actually exists agrees with
the ascertained situation, assume that this is
what the utterance intends to say. (c)???????????
Avoid the additional interpretation of the
utterance.
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???? ???????????????????????????
Dont use a lengthy, obscure or marked expression
for no purpose. ??????????????????????,?????????
???????????????????,??????????????????????????????
?????????
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If the speaker uses a lengthy or marked
expression, his meaning will be different from
what he intends to express by using an unmarked
expression, especially when the speaker tries to
avoid the stereotypical associations or the
implicature of an unmarked expression calculated
by using information principle.