NON-ADHERENCE TO THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE IN A SELECTED FAIRY

TALE BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM

Grices cooperative principle means that you should make your conversational contribution such as is
required, at the stage at which it occurs , by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are
engaged. (Yule, 1996:36) This principle consists of four sub-principles called maxims :
The maxim of quantity: you should make your contribution as informative as is required for the current
purposes of the exchange.
The maxim of quality: you should try to make your contribution one that is true , and do not make false
statements or say something for which you lack evidence .
The maxim of relation: you should be relevant.
The maxim of manner: your statement should be clearly expressed and easily understood . According to this
maxim, you should avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity, and be brief and orderly.
(Yule, 1996:36)
The importance of the cooperative principle is that the whole communication process crashes if you flout
one or more of the maxims . When flouting a maxim, the speaker assumes that hearer knows that their words should
not be taken at face value and that they can infer the implicit meaning . (Cutting, 2007:37)
Fairy tales are a type of short narratives ; they describe marvellous and magical events or phenomena as a
valid part of human experience. We, as readers, are expected to accept these wondrous elements as truly and
legitimately occurring in the stories.(Jones, 2002:9) Fairy tales are considered an art form , and they serve to
entertain us and to develop our imagination moral sense . Grundy (2008:98) says that it is obvious that statements
which are self-evidently false must be uttered for some purpose other than to convey merely their stated meaning . It
is realized with the notion of implicature, which is an additional conveyed meaning when something is more than
just what the words mean. (Yule, 1996:35) When flouting the maxims of the cooperative principle in fairy tales the
authors create a different , new reality where the rules differ from real life in order to fulfil the main functions of the
tales.
The fairy tale chosen for the research is Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm .
After the death of his wife, Cinderellas father remarried. Her step-mother and step-sisters tormented her all
time. She planted a twig at her mothers grave and it grew into a tree with a bird on it that granted her wishes. One
day the King organized a ball for his son to find a wife. Cinderella wanted to go but her step-mother did not want
her to attend, so she poured some lentils in the ash and told Cinderella to sort it out. Cinderella called for the birds
who appeared and helped her. When everybody left, she visited her mothers grave and the bird gave her a beautiful
dress. She went to the ball and the Prince danced with her all night. The same thing happened the following two
days. The third night her gold slippers got stuck in pitch, and he used it to find her. The step-sisters tried to cheat by
cutting off parts of their feet, but a bird warned the Prince both times that neither of them was his right bride. In the
end, he married Cinderella and the evil step-sisters got punished.
According to Cutting (2008:37), the speaker who flouts the maxim of quality may quite simply say
something that obviously does not represent what he or she thinks .
[Cinderella] went to her mothers grave , and planted this twig there, weeping so bitterly that the tears fell
upon it and watered it, and it flourished and became a fine tree. (Grimm, 1900:81)
[...] a white bird rose from the tree , and if she uttered any wish the bird brought her whatever she had
wished for (Grimm, 1900:81)
Cinderella calls the birds who understand what she says. (Grimm, 1900:82)
Cinderella talks to the tree when she wishes for a dress. (Grimm, 1900:83)
Then the bird threw down a dress of gold and silver (Grimm, 1900:83)
and the bird had carried [the dress] away(Grimm, 1900:83)
The pigeons warn the Prince two times that his bride-to-be is bleeding . (Grimm, 1900:85)
The whole concept that the shoe fits Cinderella but nobody else (Grimm, 1900:85)
The step-sisters get blinded by pigeons as justice. (Grimm, 1900:86)
Speakers may flout the maxim by exaggeration as in the hyperbole. (Cutting, 2008:37)
[...] at last a crowd of all the birds under heaven (Grimm, 1900:82)
And when she appeared in [the dress] among the guests every one was astonished at her beauty .
(Grimm, 1900:84)
Then the bird cast down a dress , the like of which had never been seen for splendour and brilliancy
(Grimm, 1900:84)

And when she appeared in this dress at the feast nobody knew what to say for wonderment . (Grimm,
1900:84)
A speaker can flout the maxim by using a metaphor
[...] at heart were black and ugly (referring to the step-sisters) (Grimm, 1900:80)
or conventional euphemisms. (Cutting, 2008:38)
when she felt her end drawing near (referring to Cinderellas mother) (Grimm, 1900:80)
Another way to flout the maxim of quality is irony when the speaker expresses a positive sentiment and
implies a negative one. (Cutting, 2008:38)
Just look now at the proud princess, how she is decked out! (the step-sisters to Cinderella after taking her
dresses) (Grimm, 1900:81)
Those who flout the maxim of manner appear to be obscure or ambiguous (Cutting, 2008:39), and often
repeat themselves. As a rule, in fairy tales there is a lot of repetition mostly of phrases or key events.
The step-mother says to Cinderella that she cannot go to the ball because she has no proper clothes and
shoes, and cannot dance. (repeated three times) (Grimm, 1900:81-83)
[...] and the doves nodded with their heads , and began to pick, peck, pick, peck, and then all the others
began to pick, peck, pick, peck (Grimm, 1900:82)
O gentle doves, O turtle-doves,
And all the birds that be,
The lentils that in ashes lie
Come and pick up for me!
The good must be put in the dish,
The bad you may eat if you wish. (repeated twice) (Grimm, 1900:82)
Little tree, little tree, shake over me,
That silver and gold may come down and cover me. (repeated three times ) (Grimm, 1900:83-84)
The Prince dances only with Cinderella, and says to every potential partner of hers She is my partner .
(Grimm, 1900:83-84)
[...] when you are Queen you will never have to go on foot. (step-mother to daughters) (Grimm, 1900:85)
There they go, there they go!
There is blood on her shoe;
The shoe is too small,
- Not the right bride at all. (repeated two times) (Grimm, 1900:85)
Cutting (2008:37) says that the speaker who flouts the maxim of quantity seems to give too little or too
much information.
When the winter came the snow covered the grave with a white covering , and when the sun came in the
early spring and melted it away, the man took to himself another wife. (=next spring) (Grimm, 1900:80)
If the speaker flouts the maxim of relation, they expect that the hearers will be able to imagine what the
utterance did not say, and make the connection between their utterance and the preceding one (s). (Cutting, 2008:39)
In fairy tales this refers to episodes that have seemingly no connection to the story .
The Father went to a fair and he asked his daughters what he should bring back for them . Cinderella
replied: The first twig, father, that strikes against your hat on the way home ; that is what I should like you to bring
me. (Grimm, 1900:81)
The research clearly indicates that the maxim which is most extensively flouted in fairy tales is the maxim
of quality since authors write things that are self-evidently false , like talking birds and wish-granting trees . The
flouting of the maxim of manner is also fairly well-represented because tales include a number of repetitions . The
other two maxims are rarely flouted due to the fact that fairy tales attempt to be informative and relevant to fulfil
their functions of entertaining and teaching.
Source:
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. (1900). Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. pp. 80-86. New York:
International Collectors Library.
References:
Cutting, J. (2007). Pragmatics and Discourse. A resource Book for Students. 2nd edition. London: Routledge
Grundy, P. (2008). Doing Pragmatics. 3rd edition. London: Hodder Education
Jones, S. (2002). The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of the Imagination . New York: Routledge
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP