Grice, Paul

<p>Apr 13, 2009 4:29 PM

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see page 376 of Stuff of Thought, Pinker.

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Pragmatics

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The person could simply say, "Stop smoking, please!" which is a direct method and has clear semantic meaning. Alternatively, the person could say, "Whew, this room could use an air purifier" which implies a similar meaning but is indirect and therefore requires pragmatic inference to derive the intended meaning.

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<h2>Conversational Maxims</h2>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a title="Gricean maxims" href="/wiki/Gricean_maxims">Gricean maxims</a></div>

<p><b>Maxim of Quality:</b> Truth</p>

<ul>

<li>Do not say what you <b>believe to be false.</b></li>

<li><b>Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.</b></li>

</ul>

<p><b>Maxim of Quantity:</b> Information</p>

<ul>

<li><b>Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchang</b>e.</li>

<li><b>Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.</b></li>

</ul>

<p><b>Maxim of Relation:</b> <b>Relevance</b></p>

<ul>

<li>Be relevant.</li>

</ul>

<p><b>Maxim of Manner:</b> Clarity</p>

<ul>

<li>Avoid obscurity of expression. ("<a class="mw-redirect" title="Eschew obfuscation" href="/wiki/Eschew_obfuscation">Eschew obfuscation</a>")</li>

<li>Avoid ambiguity.</li>

<li>Be brief ("avoid unnecessary prolixity").</li>

<li>Be orderly.</li>

</ul>

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