Language used in conversation
 Two ways
1. For manipulating relationships
2. Achieving particular goals
 Rules for conducting and interpreting conversations
differ from society to society.
Conversation Structure
 Rule of an introduction of a new topic
 Rule of Silence
 Principle of turn-taking
 Rule of interruption
 Rule of interpretation
 Conversations consist of structured
sequences of different types of
utterances.
Q1: Have you written to Ali yet?
A1: No, not yet.
Q2: Are you going to write?
A2: Yes, eventually.
Q1: Have you seen Amir yet?
Q2: Is he back?
Q3: Didn’t you know?
A3: No, I didn’t.
A2: He’s back alright.
A1: Well I haven’t seen him.
Summonses are normally followed by answers
Khadija, S1: Ayesha!
Ayesha,A1: Coming.
However, they do not undergo embedding
Khadija, S1: Ayesha!
Ayesha, S2: Khadija!
Khadija, A2: Yes?
Ayesha, A1 : Coming.
Telephone conversation
 Follows summons sequence
 Conversations, then, are structured, rule governed,
non random sequences of utterances.
Coherent conversation-type sequences
A: Are you going on holiday this year?
B: I haven’t got any money.
Random sequences
A: Are you going on holiday this year?
B: My favourite colour is yellow.
Rule of Interpretation
 A: Are you going on holiday today?
 B: My aunt has just bought a bicycle.
Oops!!!!!
 Rule of interpretation might be broken.
 Mistake regarding sharing of knowledge of the
proposition.
A: Are you going on holiday this year?
B: I haven’t got any money.
A: so what?
Ethnography of communication
The study of the rules of language used in social
interaction and cross-cultural differences in
communicative norms, is often known as the
Ethnography of communication.
The 4 conversational Maxims
1.
Maxim of Quality
Do not say what you believe to be false.
b. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
a.
E.g.
If a friend asks, “….have you seen my dog?” an honest
answer is expected.
The 4 conversational Maxims
2. Maxim of Quantity
Make your contribution as informative as required.
b. Do not make your contribution more informative
than required.
a.
If people don’t say something then we assume that
they don’t know that information.
The 4 conversational Maxims
3. Maxim of relation
a.
Be relevant
E.g.
“Isn’t Larry the biggest jerk you ever met?”
“Uh, it sure is nice for this time of year, eh?”
The 4 conversational Maxims
4. Maxim of manner
a.
b.
c.
d.
Avoid obscurity of expression
Avoid ambiguity
Be brief
Be orderly
E.g.
“Miss Singer produced a series of sounds
corresponding closely to the score of The StarSpangled Banner”
vs.
“Miss Singer sang The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Flouting the Cooperative
Principle
 Maxim of quality is mostly deliberately violated like
while lying, exaggerating, joking, using irony or
sarcasm.
E.g.
 I’ve got millions of bottles of coke in my fridge.
 My car breaks down every five minutes.
 Queen Victoria was made of iron.
Flouting the Cooperative
Principle
 Maxim of Quantity is flouted when we say
 Too much to mark a sense of occasion or respect
 Too little to be rude, blunt, or forthright.
E.g.
A: Excuse me are you busy?
B: No
A: Can I have a word with you? It will only take a few
minutes if you could spare them?
Flouting the Cooperative
Principle
 Maxim of Relevance is flouted to signal
embarrassment or a desire to change the subject.
 Maxim of manner is violated either for humour, or
in order to exclude a third person out of the
conversation.
Activity
 Which maxims of the cooperative principle are
being flouted in the following and why?
I think I’ll go for a W-A-L-K. (spelling the word
letter by letter in front of the dog)
2. -- I can jump higher than the Empire State
building.
-- Can you?
-- Yes, because buildings can’t jump at all.
1.
Activity
 Which maxims of the cooperative principle are
being flouted in the following and why?
3. This meal is delicious. (said by a guest who finds
the food disgusting)
4. Child: I’m going to watch Match of the Day now.
Parent: What was that Maths homework you said
you had?
Basil Bernstein’s classification
 Two Language Varieties
1. ‘Elaborate Code’
2. ‘Restricted Code’

The two ‘codes’ are not connected but there is a
relationship between the usage of these two ‘codes’
and social class membership.
Contradictions!!!!!!
 No implication in any version of Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis that one language might produce a world
view that is in any way superior to that produced by
another.
Final Conclusion
 Language-deficit view incorporates a considerable
element of middle-class bias.
 Middle-class children can or do use two different
varieties of language, whereas working class children
use only one variety
 In many contexts some working-class children are less
willing or less used to employing a more formal style
than are middle-class children.