A Study of Maxims Flouting in Malala Yousafzai’s Interview

Abstract

Effective communication is a vital aspect in the process of conveying information from one individual to another. In order for communication to be successful, it is essential for both the individuals who are listening and those who are speaking to have a grasp of the message that is being delivered. In 1975, Grice established four cooperative principles that should be followed to in order to have a conversation that is considered to be successful. According to his point of view, a conversation has to be straightforward, trustworthy, informative, as well as relevant to the subject matter that is being discussed. In the context of Grice’s “Conversation Maxims” as a theoretical framework, the study makes an effort to identify only two conversational maxims in the interview of Malala Yousufzai. These are the maxim of quantity and the maxim of relevance. It is beneficial to have an understanding of how the conversational maxims influence the overall message that is being sent when they are being flouted by the speaker during conversation. The research shows that there is a lack of relevance and quantity in Malala Yousufzai's interview, which results in uncertainty in her conversation.