A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE FLOUTING OF GRICEAN MAXIMS IN THE DEAR DEPARTED BY STANLEY HOUGHTON

Abstract

The application of H. P. Grice's (1975) Cooperative Principle in the dialogue of Stanley Houghton's one-act play is examined in this paper, "A Pragmatic Analysis of the Flouting of Gricean Maxims in The Dear Departed by Stanley Houghton." In order to produce implicatures that disclose more profound social, moral, and emotional tensions, the study attempts to find and examine situations in which characters purposefully disregard the conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relation, and manner. The study employs a qualitative analytical approach to analyse 16 chosen lines from the play, each of which demonstrates a unique type of maxim flouting through practical techniques such as topic evasion, sarcasm, irony, emotional manipulation, and vagueness. Following violations of Manner through abrupt or ambiguous speech, Relation through avoidance and misdirection, and Quantity through exaggeration or purposeful omission, the results show that the Maxim of Quality is most commonly broken, frequently to convey false grief or excuse unethical behaviour. These practical transgressions are not coincidental; rather, they are crucial dramatic devices that highlight the protagonists' avarice and hypocrisy while strengthening the story's moral implications. In addition to demonstrating how conversational implicature can offer a richer understanding of character motivation and social dynamics, the study emphasises the applicability of pragmatic theory in literary discourse analysis.