Analysis of The Rise of Conflicts Due To The Non-Observance of Gricean Maxims in 'Beverly Hills 90210' Season 1 and 2 TV Series.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis pelanggaran terhadap suatu aturan percakapan yang terjadi dalam sebuah percakapan. Pelanggaran tersebut biasanya memiliki implikasi yang dapat menyebabkan konflik di antara para penutur. Saya akan menganalisis mengenai pelanggaran yang dilakukan oleh penutur percakapan dalam drama seri Beverly Hills seasons 1 and 2 dan implikasi yang mendasari pelanggaran tersebut menggunakan teori dari Grice. Teori ini mengatur mengenai bagaimana seharusnya seorang penutur menciptakan suatu percakapan yang baik.

Analisis yang dilakukan adalah analisis mengenai jenis maxim yang dilanggar, alasan pelanggaran, dan juga bagaimana pelanggaran tersebut menimbulkan suatu ketegangan yang memicu konflik di antara penutur. Dari dua belas data yang dianalisis, saya menemukan bentuk pelanggaran yang terbanyak adalah flouting, dan maxim yang paling sering dilanggar adalah maxim of quality dengan alasan penutur ingin menutupi kesalahan yang dibuatnya dengan berbohong.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Man is a social creature. Man cannot live alone. Man needs other people in his/her life. Man must communicate with others. The easiest way to communicate with others is to build a conversation.

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Therefore, in a conversation, there are rules of speaking, called maxims, formulated by Grice. Conversational maxim is an attempt at explaining how a hearer progresses from what is said to what is mean,from the level of expressed meaning to the level of the implied meaning (Thomas 56). This theory includes the rules for speakers and hearers to have a good conversation. Gricean maxims will prevent us from having conflicts due to the misinterpretation with others in conversation.

I take this particular topic because I find that it is common for people not to apply Gricean maxims in their conversation, so that misinterpretations occur, which results in conflicts or humour. That is why, in my opinion, this non-observance of maxims is very interesting to analyze. It can be seen not only in our daily life but also in the conversations in television series.

In this thesis, I would like to focus my research on the non-observance of the Gricean maxims applied by the major characters in the television series Beverly Hills 90210 seasons 1 and 2. I will analyze the non-observance of Gricean maxims which lead to the rise of conflicts, and find out the reasons why the Gricean maxims are not observed in the utterances of the major characters of this television series.

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Gricean Maxims is mostly because of their making implicatures which it is on purpose or not.

The first character that I want to analyze is Annie. She is the daughter of the high school principal, Mr. Wilson. She just moved from Kansas to Beverly Hills. She is a teenager who just wants to find love and become a good friend in the new school. Unfortunately, sometimes her ego and temperament as a teenager makes her not observe the Gricean maxims.

The second character is Naomi, a broken-home teenager in this drama series. She is used to being very popular and dates the most popular guy in the high school, Ethan. She always wants to be the best girl but her capability of controlling her emotion is very low. She gets depressed because of this condition.

The third character is Wilson, who is Annie’s father. He is the new principal. It is very interesting to notice how he acts as a principal as well as a father for his son and daughter. Wilson always tries to be a good husband to his wife, Karen. Sometimes he is overprotective of his son and daughter and this often makes him not observe the Gricean maxims.

The fourth character is Adrianna. Adrianna is a popular girl in this school. She is a talented actress but she is depressed because her mother uses her as a

“money machine”. She must get a part in some movies or plays to help their

home’s economic condition. Because of this pressure, she uses drugs. This condition, together with her ego, makes Adrianna not observe the Gricean maxims.

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that the conflicts of this drama are the main factors that make the television series popular, I am of the opinion that this research is worth doing. I also hope that people who read this thesis will be more aware that in their daily life, conflicts are likely to occur if they do not observe the Gricean maxims.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

In my thesis, there are four problems to be analyzed:

1. Which type of the non-observances of the Gricean maxims do the speakers commit in Beverly Hills 90210 Seasons 1 and 2?

2. Which Gricean maxims do the speakers fail to obey in Beverly Hills 90210 Seasons 1 and 2?

3. What are the speakers’ implicature in the utterances that do not observe the Gricean Maxims?

4. How does the non-observance of the Gricean maxims lead to conflicts?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

This study is done

1. to show the type of the non-observances of the Gricean maxims that the speakers do in Beverly Hills 90210 Seasons 1 and 2.

2. to show which Gricean maxims the speakers fail to obey in Beverly Hills 90210 Seasons 1 and 2.

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4. to explain how the non-observance of the Gricean maxims leads to conflicts.

1.4 Methods of Research

In this thesis, I took four steps to collect my data. First, I watched the Beverly Hills 90210 Seasons 1 and 2 from DVDs and wrote down the conversation data of the four central characters. Then, I chose the conversations which do not apply the non-observance of the maxims and, as the final step, I analyzed each of them based on the non-observance of the maxims and the reasons why they do not obey the maxims and also found the implicature . Finally, I wrote my thesis.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I will conclude the analysis of all the data that I have written in Chapter Three. Grice states that people must obey the Gricean maxims to make a conversation go well (Thomas 62). However, in my data, I find that it is hard for people to obey Gricean maxims for various reasons. The non-observance of maxims in the data ends with the raise of conflict between the speakers.

In total, I analyze twelve data, which come from ten scenes. There are nine data which belong to flouting the maxim, two data which belong to violating the maxim, and one data which belongs to opting out of the maxim. However, I cannot find any data that show infringing or suspending the maxim. Many characters in the movie do not observe the maxims. They have various implicatures behind the non-observance of the maxims.

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characters in the movie lie because they have implicatures in their conversation. Flouting the maxim of quality can be found in some data in my thesis. For example, in data 3, Wilson tries to persuade Annie to have dinner with him/with the family, although he knows that Annie will have a party with her boyfriend. Actually, he is worried about Annie’s safety and wants to protect her.

Flouting the maxim of relation can be found in data 12. People usually do this flouting because they want to divert someone attention or to cover some mistakes that he or she does. However, the flouting the maxim of manner which means answer someone’s question irrelevantly does not mean it is always ambiguous like in data 12, Adrianna tries to divert Annie’s attention because she does not want Annie to know the truth about her boyfriend.

Some characters often flout the maxim of manner because they want to exaggerate or point out something, like in data 1, when Annie does not speak briefly and clearly to Silver. It creates a conflict between Annie and Silver. In the data, I do not find flouting the maxim of quantity. I think it is because I observe a drama series genre. Actually, there are some utterances that flout the maxim of quantity. However, those lead to humorous effect, not to conflict.

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telling a lie and makes Annie think something that is not true, which ruins Annie and Silver’s relationship. To make a good conversation, people must be honest and not mislead someone. In my opinion, it is really cruel when someone violates this maxim because people do not like to get lied to.

In data 6, I find opting out of a maxim. When someone opts out of a maxim, it is because the speaker has a strong reason for not giving information or answering the question. It also leads to a conflict because when some characters communicate with someone, they hope or they want to get feedback from other speakers.

In data 6 and 9, I find an interesting fact in my thesis. The non-observance of a maxim can leads to a further consequences of the conflicts. So, in these two data the non-observance of maxim not only leads to a conflict with tense atmosphere but also to the further consequences of the conflict which makes the situation become worse. Although in data 6 and 9, the non-observance of maxim is different, data 6 is opting out of a maxim and in data 9 is flouting the maxim of quality and manner.

In my thesis, I cannot find any data that suspends a maxim. I think it is due to the source of the data. Beverly Hills 90210 season 1 and 2 is a story about the new life of Wilson’s family and their family in an elite region, Beverly Hills. I

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At last, I find that sometimes there are two maxims flouted at the same time, like in data 8. Here Wilson flouts two kinds of maxim: maxim of quality and maxim of manner. This can happen when the character is nervous and wants to hide some truth, so he/she does not speak briefly and at the same time tells a lie.

Many non-observance of the maxims happen when many people fail to obey the Gricean maxim because they have some implicatures to reach. However, I think people can prevent the non-observance of maxims by speaking honestly, by directing the question to someone else if they cannot answer the question, and by speaking briefly. The important thing is people should try to observe the maxims to make the conversation end well.

In my opinion, Gricean maxims help people to understand the real meaning behind the speakers’ utterance. Although speakers have an implicature in a conversation, they can prevent the rise of tension which can create a conflict by applying this theory. People can apply this theory not only for preventing the conflict but also for becoming better speakers. Finally, for further research, it could be a good thesis if a researcher choose any comedy series like Glee or National Lampoon Series as a source of data if they want to analyze the non-observance of maxims which leads to humorous situation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Thomas, J. Meaning in Interaction: an introduction to Pragmatics. London & New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995.

Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. New

York: Dilithium Press, 1989.

Internet website:

Princeton.com :definition of conflict. Retrieved 17 September 2010 from <http://www. wordnetweb.princeton.com/definition/conflict>

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