What is Grice Maxims?

Grice Maxims consists of two things; the maxim’s quality and the maxim’s quantity.

The theory behind the maxim of quantity, is where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more. The maxim of quality, is where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.

Grice Maxim believed that a person can communicate to someone, without taking into account that the person will respond, to achieve a conversation. Even if we are not socially cooperative socially, a conversation is still being made, therefore following the theory of Grice’s Maxim’s, which is automatically performed by people.

 

The other 2 Maxim’s that Grice implemented in his theory were; relevance and manner.

Relevance – keep what is being mentioned as relevant and related to the topic of conversation - the topic of conversation should flow with no change of topic in the middle of the conversation.

Manner – Try to evade being ambiguous and being vague when in conversation as well as being enthusiastic.

Another important factor that is influential in the Grice’s Maxim’s theory is the aspect of politeness when having a conversation with someone. This is also known as the “super maxim” which consists of people being mindful of other’s needs, focusing on being well mannered and respectful is needed for keeping the other person you are talking to please with the discussion of the topic by being very respectful.