Вип. 26 (2011)

Записки з романо-германської філології. – ВИП. 26. – 2011 р.
I was finishing my Master’s thesis on Ladislav Klima, the Czech novelist and
philosopher. It was the most important thing in the world for me, so I had to
take some time out.
This fact makes him take additional turn (That’s interesting.) in order to discover
the real reasons of delivering this information. However, further answer
testifies that the information was irrelevant for job interview (You know, and
Ladislav Klima is my hero. He only ever took on short-time work, so I wanted to
see the world through his eyes.). In this case we can see the flouting of cooperative
principle caused by violating the Maxim of Quantity: the interviewer didn’t
reach local aim – he didn’t find required working qualities due to excessive
information.
The Maxim of Quality is represented by the statement: “Do not say what you
believe to be false and do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence”.
The utterances which confirm this Maxim can be: introductory phrases („You
say; Аs you can see; As you know; to tell you the truth”); referring to the third
person („Our research team says; my supervisor would mention”); referring to
the reliable sources („I see on your resume; in my internship ... at the Armstrong
Associates; I noticed from your job description”); mentioning historical events
(„you’d know that Scott Cassell (famous diver) is the one who first came up with
this one-man armory”). The utterances of violating the Maxim of Quality are irony,
litotes, metaphor, and hyperbola („Most young men these days seem to want dull
jobs; British people are so funny, you know?”).Violation of the Maxim of Quality
is crucial for discovering the implicatures. For example, in the job interview for
a position in heavy industry the interviewer says about the not matching the job
requirements using the ironic compliment:
„You know what I think? I see a young man who may well be smart but who
really doesn’t know where he’s going”.
We must admit that most implicatures-refuses, connected with violation of
the Maxim of Quality, implement the strategies of politeness and are used to
“save the face”.
The Maxim of Relevance says: “Be relevant”. It means that the utterance
must be connected with what was said earlier. The observance of this Maxim is
testified with the use of the groups of connectors: „but – and – in addition”, the
elements of utterance structuring: „first, second, finally”. Violation of the Maxim
of Relevance indicates that the speaker reveals implicit information, which can’t
be said explicit, as it contradicts professional ethics and threatens the “face”. Let’s
consider the example:
Director: ... Why do you wish to change your job?
Ernest: I found the work too dull, sir.
Director: That’s a pleasant change. Most young men these days seem to want
dull jobs. The first question young men ask me is whether the job I’m offering
carries a pension. They want to retire before they start!
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