Canadian Social Science
Critical Voices Against the Cooperative Principle
Abstract
The Cooperative Principle (CP), Grice’s influential contribution to pragmatics, advances strongly in linguistics, philosophy, psychology and sociology. However, doubts and criticisms on it have been unceasing. They are mainly concerned with the following four aspects: The term “cooperation” itself is ambiguous; the question of whether the CP belongs to a range of principles or rules has not been decided; The four maxims cannot be applied extensively; The descriptions of the violations are not too persuasive. These critical views are the results of some scholars’ misunderstandings. First, they ignore to give self-definition of “cooperation” in the CP; Second, they mix the concepts and relationship between the cooperative principle and conversational maxims; Thirdly, they indiscreetly impose the cooperative essence of the CP on the maxims so that maxims are imprisoned.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Arezou, S., & Ali, S. (2014). The violation of cooperative principles and four maxims in Iranian psychological consultation. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 4, 91-99. doi: 10.4236/ojml.2014.41009
Asa, K. (1982). Gricean inference revised. Philosophica, 29, 25-44.
Attardo, S. (1997). Competiton and cooperation: Beyond Gricean pragmatics. Pragmatics & Cognition, 1, 27-29. doi: 10.1075/pc.5.1.05att
Bethan, L, D. (2007). Grice’s cooperative principle: Meaning and rationality. Journal of pragmatics, 39, 2308-2331. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2007.09.002
Blome-Tillmann, M. (2013). Conversational implicatures (and how to spot them). Philosophy Compass, 8(2), 170-185. doi: 10.1111/phc3.12003
Cameron, D., & Taylor, T. J. (1987). Analysing conversation: Rules and units in the structure of talk. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Chen, C. (2010). Analysis of the psychological reason in violating the cooperative principle. Journal of Philology Study and Examination, 43, 38-40.
Chen, C. H. (1999). Pragmatic analysis of conversational humor. Journal of PLA Foreign Languages Institute, 22(1), 21-24.
Chen, X. R., & Li, M. (2013). Social behaviorism: new perspective of conversation analysis. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, 6, 1-4.
Chen, L. W., & Zheng, W. (2001). The inference and application of the theory of conversational implication in conversatio. Journal of Xiangtan Institute of Technology (Social Science Edition), 3(2), 57-59.
Cheng, Y. M. (2009). Two points about thew discussion of conversational implicature. Journal of Jinan University College of Chinese Language and Culture (Chinese Language and Culture Teaching and Research), 35(3), 53-85.
Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections on language. New York: Pantheon.
Clark, H. H., & Brennan, S. E. (1991). Grounding in communication. Perspective on Socially Shared Cognition, 222-233.
David, L. (2008). Kinds of conversational cooperation. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 1896-1908. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2008.03.007
David, H. (1983). Irony as a trope and irony as discourse. Poetics Today, 4, 493-511. doi: 10.2307/1772029
Davis, W. A. (2008). Precis of meaning, expression and thought. Philosophy Study, 137, 383-387. doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-007-9126-8
Davis, W. A. (1998). Implicature: Intention, convention, and principle in the failure of Gricean theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dong, M. C. (2005). Discussion about the relationship between figure of speech, rhetorical devices and pragmatic principle. Journal of Kaifeng Institute of Education, 25(3), 31-35.
Dornyei, Z., & Sarah, T. (1992). Conversation and dialogues in action. New York & London: Prentice Hall International.
Dou, Y. P. (2010). Violation of cooperative principle and humor. Capital Education Journal, 4(10), 28-30.
Elinor Ochs, K. (1976). The universality of conversational postulates. Language in Society, 5, 197-216.
Eric, S., & Ellen, S. (1986). The bounds of interpretation: linguistics theory and literary text. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Fairclough, N. (1985). Critical and descriptive goals in discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 9, 739-793. doi: 10.1016/ 0378-2166 (85) 9002-5
Feng, G. W. (2005). Cooperation must be principle. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, 21(5), 108-113.
Feng, Y. N. (2013). On Grice conversational implicature theory. Overseas English, 2(2), 229-230.
Feng, Z. X. (2008). Grice’s principle: Forty years. Foreign Language Teaching, 29(5), 1-8.
Feng, Z. X. (2002). The theory of conversational implicature in ideal world and its practical meaning. Foreign Language and Their Teaching, 8, 7-9.
Fraser, B., & Nolen, W. (1981). The association of deference with linguistic form. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 27, 93-94. doi: 0.1515/ijsl.1981.27.93
Fred, J. K. (2001). Grice without the cooperative principle. OSSA Conference Archive, 67, 1-15.
Gabriella, A., Bruno, G, B., & Marco, C. (1993). Conversation and behavior games in the pragmatics of dialogue. Cognitive Science, 17, 197-256. doi: 10.1207/s15516709cog1702_2
Gino, E. (2014). A critique of politeness theories. Manchester: St. Jerome’s Press.
Grandy, R. E. (1989). On grice on language. Journal of Philosophy, 10, 514-525.
Green, G. M. (1990). The universality of Gricean interpretation (pp.411-428). Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.
Greenall, A. J. K. (2002). Towards a socio-cognitive account of flouting and flout-based meaning (pp.12-272). Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. New York: Academic Press.
Gu, Y. G. (2003). Toward a multi-goal neo-grice. International Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 45-70.
Hadi, A. (2013). A critical appraisal of grice’s cooperative principle. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 3(1), 69-72. doi: 10. 4346/ ojml. 2013. 31008
He, Y. X. (2012). Cooperative principle in English and Chinese cultures. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(1), 132-137.
He, Z. X. (1999). A brief introduction to new language. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Herawati, A. (2013). The cooperative principle: Is Grice’s theory suitable to indonesian language culture? Journal Lingua Cultura, 7(2), 43-48.
Huang, M. (2012). Language of thought hypothesis and conversational implicature. Foreign Language and Literature (Bimonthly), 28(2), 49-52.
Jiang, W. Q. (2003). Contemporary pragmatics. Beijing: Beijing University Press.
Jiang, Z. G. (2002). Discussion about the variety of cooperative principle. Journal of Guangxi University for Nationalities (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 3, 117-179.
Jing, L. (2005). Triple interpretation of verbal communication. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Scienves), 35(3), 113-119.
Johnson, J. (2010). Grice’s unspeakable truths. Essays in Philosophy, 11(2), 168-180. doi: http:// commons. pacificu. edu/ eip
Ke, W. C. (2016). The functions of violating the cooperative principle: A study of college students’ daily conversation. Beijing: North China Electric Power University.
Ladegaard, H. (2008). Pragmatic cooperation revisited: Resistance and non-cooperation as a discursive strategy in asymmetrical discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(4), 649-665. doi: https: //doi.org/ 10.1016/j. pragma. 2008.09.21
Larkin, D. M., & O’Malley, M. H. (1973). Declarative sentences and the rule-of-conversation hypothesis (pp.306-319). Retrieved from http://www.oalib.com/references/14812928
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London and New York: Longman.
Levinson, S. C. (1979). Activity types and language. Language, 17, 365-399. doi: 10.1515/ling.1979.17.5-6.365
Li, X. Y. (2008). The language phenomenon of violation cooperative principle. The South of China Today, 112, 96-97.
Li, J. (2008). The violation of cooperative principle and the four maxims in psychological consulting. Canadian Social Science, 4 (3), 87-95.
Liang, Y. H. (2006). Grice’s cooperative principle: Deviation and misunderstanding. Journal of Beijing University (Special Issue), 129-131.
Lin, D. J., & Yu, Q. L. (2002). From Grice to Qian Guan-Lian: Comments on pragmatic principles. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, 18(5), 72-75.
Liu, F. G., & Zhang, S. J. (2008). Ways of violating conversational maxims: Explaination and correction. Foreign Language and Their Teaching, 9, 8-11.
Liu, J. (2002). Two problems in the research of cooperative principle and its maxims. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, 18(5), 105-107.
Manoochehr, T. R., & Mansoor, T. (2010). The cooperative principle in discourse communities and genres: A framework for the use of metadiscourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(6), 1669-1679. doi: 10.1016/ j. pragma.2009.11.001
Marmaridou, S. S. A. (2000). Pragmatic meaning and cognition. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Mey, J. L., & Haberland, H. (1992). Linguistic and pragmatics: 25 years after. Journal of pragmatics, 34, 1671-1682.
Mey, J. L. (2001). Pragmatics: An introduction. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press: Blackwell Publish-ers Ltd.
Michal, E. (2012). “We try harder”-silence and Grice’s cooperative principle, maxims and implicatures. Language & Communication, 32, 62-79. doi: 10.1016/j.langcom.2011.09.001
Okolo, B. A. (2017). Incongruency in discourse: A violation of the “cooperative principle”? Erudit, 41(3), 379-388. doi: 10.7202/003762ar
Pavlidou, T. (1991). Cooperation and the choice of linguistic means: some evidence from the use of the subjunctive in modern Greek. Journal of Pragmatics, 15, 11-42. doi: 10.1016/0378-2166(91)90024-R
Pratt, M. L. (1981). The ideology of speech act theory. Poetics Today, 1, 5-18. doi: 10.2307/1772088
Qian, G. L. (1997). Chinese cultural pragmatics. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press.
Qin, S. S. (2014). The study of the pragmatic reasoning of Grice’s theory of conversational implicature. Chongqing, China: Southwest University.
Saeed, J. (2000). Semantics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Reserch Press.
Sampson, G. (1982). The economics of conversation (pp.200-210). New York: Academic Press.
Sarangi, S. K., & Slembrouk, S. (1992). Non-cooperation in communication: A reassessment of Gricean pragmatics. Journal of Pragmatics, 17, 117-154. doi: 10.1016/0378-2166(92)90037-C
Searle, J. R. (1989). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambrisge: Cambrisge University Press.
Shen, J. X. (1997). Pragmatics, cognition and implicature. Foreign Language and Their Teaching, 4, 11-12.
Speaks, J. (2008). Conversational implicature, thought, and communication. Mind & Language, 2(1), 1-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2007.00331.x
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1981). On Grice’s theory of conversation. London: Croom Helm.
Sri, N., & Maria, G. (2009). The Gricean cooperative principle: Flouting and hedging in the conversations in Joseph Conrad’s the secreat agent. Journal Inspirasi Pendidikan, 4(1), 2088-9704.
Suo, Z. Y. (2000). A course in pragmatics. Beijing: Beijing University Press.
Thomas, J. (1998). Cooperatove principle. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatic. London: Longman.
Thomas, J. (1994). The cooperative principle of H. P. Grice. Oxford: Pergamon Press．
Tong, X. W., He, J. Y., Yao, Y., & Peng, K. (2012). Conversation purpose and violation of the CP. Journal of Zunyi Normal College, 14(1), 55-58.
Tong, X. W., He, J. Y., Yao, Y., & Peng, K. (2011). Discussion about the violation of the cooperative principle from the perspective of goal relation. Foreign Language Education and Teaching, 10, 5-7.
Verschueren, J. (1998). Understanding pragmatics. London & New York: Arnold.
Verschureren, J. (1999). New explanation of pragmatics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Researcher Press.
Wang, C. P. (2012). Thoughts about the pragmatic logic in Grice’s logic and conversation. Journal of Wanxi Institute, 28(6), 112-115.
Wang, H. J., & He, G. (2011). The philosophical pathway of Grice’s cooperative principle. Contemporary Foreign Language Study, 11, 12-16.
Wu, Z. B. (2011). How to realize implicature? -Discussion about the requirements of the realization of implicature in Grice’s logic and conversation. Journal of the Youth Writer, 2, 236-238.
Xiong, X. L. (2007). Inferences in language use. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Xiong, X. L. (2008). A course of pragmatics. Shanghai: Fudan University Press.
Xu, S. H. (1993). New Grice’s conversational implicature theory and its pragmatic inference. Journal of Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages, 1, 7-14.
Yang, F. F. (2000). The violation of cooperative principles and discourse coherence. Journal of Fujian Teachers University (Philoshophy ans Social Sciences Edition), 4, 90-93.
Yang, M. Y., & Hou, D. (2010). From the relationship between the principle of conversation and its four maxims: Principle of conversation is a golden rule. Journal of Liaoning Educational Adminstration Insitute, 27(1), 99-
101.
Yao, X. D. (2012). The Gricean notion of cooperative hierarchy revisied. Journal of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Social Sciences Edition), 25(4), 86-
91.
Zhang, C. L. (1996). Shortcomings of cooperative principle. Foreign Languages Research, 4, 86-89.
Zhang, D. S. (2009). Revier of cooperative principle research. Jianghuai Tribune, 236(4), 135-140.
Zhang, L. (2010). Discussion about Grice’s conversational implicature. Journal of Mudanjiang University, 19(2), 57-59.
Zhao, X. (2014). Cooperative principle and pragmatic translation. Journal of Hengyang Normal University, 35(1), 77-80.
Zheng, M. (2008). Floutings of cooperative principles and conversational implicatures. Journal of Xingjiang University (Philosophy, Humanities& Social Sciences), 36(3), 153-155.
Zhong, W. (2008). Euphemism and cooperative principle. Journal of Anhui University (Philosophy and Social Science), 32(1), 76-80.
Zhou, L. Q. (1994). Logic-theory of correct thinking and successful conversation. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Zhu, Y., & Liu, A. L. (2015). On the causes of the violation of cooperative principle. Overseas English, 217-218.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9905
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2017 Canadian Social Science
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Reminder
- How to do online submission to another Journal?
- If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:
Submission Guidelines for Canadian Social Science
We are currently accepting submissions via email only. The registration and online submission functions have been disabled.
Please send your manuscripts to css@cscanada.net，or css@cscanada.org for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.
Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).
Canadian Social Science Editorial Office
Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net
Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 
