iii
Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Dalam skripsi ini saya menganalisis konflik dari sebuah film seri drama yang berjudul Desperate Housewives. Konflik tersebut terjadi karena adanya pelanggaran oleh penutur terhadap bidal.
Dalam skripsi ini, saya menggunakan teori H.P. Grice. Di dalam teori Grice disebutkan bahwa agar penutur dapat menyampaikan pesan dengan baik dan lancar kepada peserta tutur, komunikasi yang terjadi perlu mempertimbangkan Prinsip Kerja Sama Grice yang mencakup empat bidal yaitu bidal kuantitas, kualitas, relevansi, dan pelaksanaan.
Setelah saya menganalisis bidal berdasarkan teori Grice, saya menemukan tokoh-tokoh utama di dalam film ini yaitu Bree, Susan, Lynette, Gabrielle, dan Edie acapkali melanggar bidal tertentu ketika berbicara satu dengan yang lain, sehingga pada akhirnya terjadi konflik. Mereka melanggar bidal tertentu karena mereka mempunyai implikatur yang seharusnya disadari oleh lawan bicara mereka.
Salah satu temuan saya adalah konflik yang paling sering terjadi dalam
i CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ………
2.1 Conventional Implicature ………...……
2.2 Conversational Implicature ………...…….. 2.3 Gricean Maxim ………...……… 2.3.1 Maxim of Quantity ……….…..…
2.3.2 Maxim of Quality ………...…..
2.3.3 Maxim of Relation ………...………
2.3.4 Maxim of Manner ………...……….
2.4 Types of Non-Observance ………...………...
2.4.1 Flouting a Maxim ………...…..
2.4.1.1 Flouting the Maxim of Quantity ………..…....……. 2.4.1.2 Flouting the Maxim of Quality ………...……...
2.4.1.3 Flouting the Maxim of Relation ………....…
2.4.1.4 Flouting the Maxim of Manner ………...… 2.4.2 Violating a Maxim ………..……. CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE RISE OF CONFLICTS DUE TO THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF GRICEAN MAXIMS IN DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES TV SERIES SEASON 2 EPISODES 1-24
ii
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ……….. 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 52
53
APPENDIX
No. Utterances
Type of
Non-Observance
Type of
Maxim
SCENE 1:
1. Edie : What the hell is this? Karl : Edie, baby, calm down.
Edie : “Let’s be honest with ourselves, Edie. We haven’t been happy in a
long time?” Who are you to tell
me I haven’t been happy, you
miserable son of a bitch? I have been ecstatic!
Karl : Okay. I-I’m the one who hasn’t been happy, then.
Edie : Then why did you propose to me? Karl : I don’t know. (1)
Edie : I have told every woman in this town that we are getting married, and all you have to say to me
Flouting the maxim
54 is, “I don’t know”?
Karl : Oh, what else do you want me to say? I’m sorry.
Edie : What’s going on? Is there someone else? Oh, my God. SCENE 2:
2. Bree : Thanks, Betty, and, um… I’d appreciate it if you could keep this little incident to yourself. Betty : I won’t say a word. I swear. Bree : Well, that’s good to hear, because
most people on this street couldn’t keep a secret if their
lives depended on it.
Betty : Well, Bree, even if everyone does find out, it’s no big deal. I mean,
lots of people have D.U.I.’s.
Bree : Yes, but the difference is most of those people were actually drunk when they were arrested. I was not.
Betty : Well, of course. (2)
Bree : You know, you sound like you don’t believe me.
Flouting the maxim
55 know so much about my personal life? house in the middle of the night. God knows what you moved in that you didn’t want anybody
56 Everybody talks about the Applewhites, but nobody can figure out exactly what you people are hiding. So, congratulations. Your secrets
59 touching your trust fund. Andrew : It’s my money.
Bree : Not until you’re 21. And if I had my way, you wouldn’t get your hands
61 Leila : My name is Leila Mitzman. I hope
I'm not interrupting? Bree : Can I help you?
Leila : This may sound odd, but I felt I should see you. I read in the paper that you're engaged to George Williams.
Bree : Oh, well, that announcement was a bit premature.
Leila : But you and George are involved? In a romantic relationship?
Bree : Yes.
Leila : Then we need to talk.
63 Leila : When I read you were engaged to
George, I felt it was my duty to let you know he's crazy. But now that I've met you, I can see it's a match made in heaven!
SCENE 6:
6. Bree : An autopsy? Detective, Rex died of a heart attack. Detective Joe : Well, there were some
anomalies in the doctor’s
64 of hurting him. (26) Detective Joe : Are you sure about that? Bree : You talked to Phyllis? Detective Joe : Again, I can’t discuss
the case. (27)
Bree : She’s my mother-in-law. Of course she said horrible things about me. (28) there’s no confusion over
65 statement?
Bree : I’m not refusing anything. All I’m saying is stay
away from Phyllis. She’s
a—she’s a raving loon.
Detective Joe : Ma’am, perhaps you’d be more comfortable with an attorney present. (31)
Bree : You want a statement? Fine, I’ll give you a
statement. (Start
recording) My husband
died of a heart attack. I loved him very deeply, and your mother did a lousy job.
Flouting the maxim
Relation
SCENE 7:
7. Lynette : Hi. You, um, you recovered from all of yesterday’s
excitement?
66 guess if you’d fallen asleep…it
could’ve happened like that, I
67 (35)
Lynette : Look, I apologize in advance for how this is going to sound, but I have to ask it. It’s just
gonna eat away at me. Were you drinking while baby-sitting my kids?
Bree : No! Oh…you know, I may have had just the tiniest little bit of Chardonnay. (36)
Lynette : Oh, gosh, you got drunk, and you passed out.
Bree : Lynette, if I close my eyes even for a moment, it’s
because of these
antihistamines I’ve been
taking. (37)
Lynette : Really? Is that why you passed out on your front lawn yesterday morning? Bree : Now that you’re speaking to
me in a fairly accusatory tone, may I remind you that I was doing you a favor? (38)
Violating the maxim
Violating the maxim
Flouting the maxim
68 Lynette : You put my kids in danger,
and then you lied about it. Do you not get how big that is? Do you have some kind of problem with alcohol?
Bree : No! The only problem I have is with your children. They’re incorrigible because you let them run amok. And if I hadn’t
drifted off, they would have waited until I was in the bathroom or stuck on the phone or upstairs doing laundry. (39)
Lynette : On any given day, how many glasses of wine do you put away? (40)
Bree : I will not be spoken to like that. I just won’t.
Flouting the maxim
Flouting the maxim
Quantity and Manner
1 Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
As social beings, we are required to interact with other people. Language is essential for interactions. Language is a form of communication that humans use (Crane, Edward, and Randal 10). Language is used for doing many things. We use it in everyday conversation for instructing, debating, informing, persuading, etc. (Clark 3).
2 Maranatha Christian University contain an implicature which sometimes the hearer is not aware of. Implicature is “additional meaning or different meaning. . .” (Thomas 57).
In that case, we speak without observing the maxims. Maxims are a kind of rules of speaking (Thomas 64). Failure to observe the maxims when engaging in a conversation may lead us to produce utterances which contain more or less information, opposite meaning, irrelevant to the topic, and ambiguous meaning which is categorized as the non-observance of maxims. This will create two effects such as conflict and comedy.
I choose “Analysis of the Rise of Conflicts due to the Non-Observance of
Gricean Maxims in Desperate Housewives TV Series, Season 2 Episodes 1-24” as the topic of my thesis. This topic is significant to analyze because the readers will be aware of the fact that in our daily conversation people are inclined to say something different from what they mean and it creates implicature in their utterances which leads to (a) conflict(s) if the implicature is not clearly understood by the hearer.
3 Maranatha Christian University to many conflicts with either their family or their neighbor. For example, one of the central characters is Bree, a perfectionist wife and mother. Her perfectionism and persistence often become the source of a conflict when she says implicitly either to her family or her neighbor (Channel 4). Therefore, she often fails to observe a certain maxim for the sake of maintaining her image in front of them. That is the reason why I choose this particular TV series as my source of data. The linguistic area of my thesis is Pragmatics. “Pragmatics is the study of
speaker meaning… of how more gets communicated than is said…” (Yule 3). I
will use one specific theory in Pragmatics, namely the Gricean maxims. By using Gricean maxims, I will be able to find out what makes the TV series contain many conflicts.
According to H.P. Grice, there are two kinds of implicature, namely conventional implicature and conversational implicature (Thomas 57). To understand the conversational implicature, Grice introduces the cooperative principle. The cooperative principle will be formed if all maxims are observed. The maxims are called Gricean Maxims which consist of maxim of quantity, quality, relation, and manner. Grice is aware of the fact that very often people fail to observe the maxims. Therefore, Grice points out five ways of people’s failure to observe the maxims. They are flouting a maxim, violating a maxim, infringing a maxim, opting out of a maxim and suspending a maxim (Thomas 64-71). In this thesis, I also use Wandberg’s theory of conflict from his Conflict Resolution, so
that I can explain the conflicts better.
4 Maranatha Christian University 1.2Statement of the Problem
In this thesis, I would like to analyze the following problems:
1. What types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims are found in Desperate
Housewives?
2. What implicature is generated?
3. How does non-observance of the Gricean maxims give rise to conflict(s)?
1.3Purpose of the Study
1. To know the types of non-observance of the Gricean maxims found in
Desperate Housewives.
2. To know the generated implicature.
3. To know how the non-observance of the Gricean maxims gives rise to conflict(s).
1.4Methods of Research
In analyzing my topic, I watched Desperate Housewives TV series and selected the data which consist of the non-observance of the conversational maxims. Moreover, I searched for the theory from some textbooks and online information related to my topic. After that, I analyzed the maxims in Desperate
Housewives TV series. Finally, I wrote my thesis.
1.5Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is Introduction, which
47 Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some concluding points based on my discussion in the previous chapter. Having analyzed the data, I find a number of types of non-observance of Gricean maxims which lead to external conflicts in
Desperate Housewives TV series. I have collected forty data for my thesis. From
those data, I find eighteen data that flout the maxim of quantity, five the maxim of quality, six the maxim of relation, twenty-one the maxim of manner, four violating the maxim, and two opting out of the maxim.
48 Maranatha Christian University In the data, infringing the maxim is not found because there is no child or foreign learner who is not sufficiently expert in speaking clearly due to the lack of language ability; what is more, there is no speaker who is nervous, drunk or excited that leads to conflicts.
Except for infringing the maxim, suspending the maxim is not found in the data because Desperate Housewives TV series does not show any culture or occasion which prohibits the members to mention something taboo in a certain community.
Flouting the maxim of quantity is found on certain occasions. It can be inferred that disagreement about something done by the hearer leads the speaker to flout the maxim of quantity. Besides, avoidance of making the hearer get angry leads the speaker to flout the maxim of quantity. Avoidance of being criticized is the third occasion that makes a person flout the maxim of quantity. One of the examples is the fact that Bree is portrayed as a perfectionist. It leads her to flout the maxim of quantity because she does not want her family and neighbor to criticize her. The speaker’s wish to be understood and tolerated by the hearer can
also lead the speaker to flout the maxim of quantity. Wishing the hearer to fulfill what the speaker needs makes the speaker flout the maxim of quantity. Refusal of someone’s opinion or statement also leads a person to flout the maxim of quantity.
49 Maranatha Christian University Flouting the maxim of quality is found in certain situations. Speaker’s making mistakes is the first situation that leads the speaker to flout the maxim of quality. It is because the speaker does not want the hearer to know about his/her fault. Disapproval of something done by the hearer also makes a person flout the maxim of quality. Furthermore, the speaker’s wish to criticize the hearer leads the speaker to flout the maxim of quality. It is because the speaker wants the hearer to be aware of what he/she should do. Hence, there are various situations that lead the speaker to flout the maxim of quality and generate implicature.
Flouting the maxim of relation is found on certain occasions. Refusal of giving and following something that the hearer asks and wants is the first occasion that makes the speaker flout the maxim of quality. Disagreement about something done by the hearer leads the speaker to flout the maxim of relation as well. It is because someone wants the hearer to realize that what the hearer has done is wrong. Refusal of someone’s judgment, opinion or statement is the last occasion that leads a person to flout the maxim of relation. Thus, there are many occasions that make the speaker flout the maxim of relation and produce implicature.
50 Maranatha Christian University examples is the fact that Lynette is not straight to the point when she needs time for her family. Refusal of the hearer’s opinion, statement or judgment also makes
the speaker flout the maxim of manner. Expecting the hearer to tell the truth is the last situation that makes the speaker flout the maxim of manner. Thus, there are various situations that lead someone to be likely to flout the maxim of manner and generate implicature.
Violating the maxim is found on certain occasion. Being afraid of admitting a mistake leads a person to violate the maxim. It is because he/she wants to keep her own image in front of people.
Opting out of a maxim is found on certain occasion. Refusal of giving the required information to the hearer is the occasion that makes the speaker opt out of a maxim. It is because the speaker has to fulfill ethical obligation.
In relation to conflicts, it can be concluded that conflicts emerging from non-observance of Gricean Maxims are concerned with asking the hearer to reveal the truth, being afraid of admitting mistakes, disagreements about something done by the hearer, avoidance of making the hearer angry, avoidance of being criticized and cornered, refusal of someone’s opinion, refusal of giving and following
something that the hearer asks and wants, wishing to criticize the hearer, and wishing the hearer to fulfill speaker’s needs.
51 Maranatha Christian University better for them to choose a drama film because it is very suitable for analyzing the conflict.
52 Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Desperate Housewives. Dir. John David Coles, Fred Gerber, and David
Grossman. ABC, 2004. DVD.
Printed and Online References
Channel 4. Channel 4, 2012. Web. 10 May 2012.
Clark, Herbert H. Using Language. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
Crane L. Ben, Edward Yeager, and Randal L. Whitman. An Introduction to
Linguistics. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company Limited, 1981.
Print.
SABC. SABC, 2011. Web. 10 May 2012.
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995. Print.
