FLOUTING AND HEDGING MAXIM OF COOPERATIVE

PRINCIPLE APPLIED BY THE CHARACTERS IN THE

MOVIE THE IMITATION GAME.

BY MEDIAN AGUSTINA SANI

 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Backround of the Research
In daily interaction, everyone needs a language to communicate each other. To be able to convey the
message of the communication well, they need good acceptable communication. Good communication
can avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation between the speakers and listeners. To help the
people cooperative in their communication there is a theory about the cooperative principle. It is a
principle of conversation that was proposed by Grice (1975:41) that participants will contribute in a
conversation such as needed when the conversation occurs and each of them can accept the purpose of
the conversation or the talk exchange. The cooperative principle explains how the people interact with
others. According to Grice (in Grundy, 2000:73) effective communication requires cooperative situation
between the speaker and the listener. A conversation depends not only on the speaker who is trying to
deliver a message, but also the listener who draws a conclusion from the implication of the utterance,
depending on the context in which occurs.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Discourse Analysis
Discourse analysis is committed to an investigation of what and how that language is used
for (Brown and Yule, 1983: 1). It means that discourse analysis concerns with the language
used for communication and how addresses work on linguistic message in order to interpret
them.
Stubbs (1983:1) states that the term discourse analysis is very ambiguous. It refers to
linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written discourse. It refers to
attempt to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause.
Therefore, it is to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written
texts. It shows that discourse analysis also concerns with language used in social contexts,
and in particularly it is in connection with interaction or dialogue among speakers.
B. Pragmatic
Pragmatics is especially the study of the relationship between
language and context. It discusses the study of how interpretation of
language depends on knowledge of the world, how speaker use and
understand utterances, and how the structure of sentences is
influenced by relationships between speakers and listeners (Richards,
2010:449).
C. Implicature
Grice in Brown and Yule (1983: 31) stated implicature is used to account for
what a speaker can imply, suggest, or mean, as a distinct from what a speaker
literary says. So the speaker does not directly utter what the speaker intends
to. The speaker tends to make certain utterance, that contain implied
meaning and listener can understand it.
Yule (1996: 36) said that implicature is a primary example of more being
communicated than is said, but in order for them to be interpreted, some
basic cooperative principle must be assumed first to be in operation.
Implicature is inductive inference which the listener draws, and may therefore
be cancelled.
D. The Cooperative Principle
Conversation is a social activity, which always involves two or more
participants. The success of a conversation depends upon the various speakers
approach to the interaction. The way in which people try to make
conversations work is called cooperative principle. Concerning with his
Cooperative Principle, Grice divides Cooperative Principle into four basic
conversational maxims: maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of
relevance and maxim of manner (Grundy, 2000:74).
1. Maxim of Quantity
Grundy (2000:74) states that maxim of quantity as one of the cooperative
principle is concerned in giving the information as it is required and is not
giving the information more than it is required. The speaker just say the
information needed, it should not be less informative or more informative. It
can be seen as in below example:
Miko : Where do you put your pen?
Rina :In my bag.
In the conversation above Rinis answer implicate the question of Miko about
where Rinis pen is and the answer definitely provides the information needed
by him not more not less.
2. Maxim of Quality
Grundy (2000: 74) said that maxim quality can be defined as truthful as required. This means that the
speaker should inform the truth and they are not allowed to say what they think false and give the
statement that run short of proof. The example of this maxim is shown in the following conversation.
A: Where is the nearest gas station?
B: It is after the next three junctions.
From the example above, A is asking information about where is the gas station, and from the Bs
answer A understand that the gas station is near with the three junctions. This kind of answer fulfill the
maxim of quantity, because it is informative and implicitly that the gas station is near with the place where
the conversation is taken place.

3. Maxim Relevance
The maxim of relevance is fulfilled when the speaker gives contribution that is relevant to the topic of
preceding utterance. Therefore, each participants contribution should be relevant to the subject of
conversation (Grundy, 2000:74). The maxim of relevance is like shown in the conversation below.
A : what about the movie last night?
B : not too interesting.
The bs statement clearly shows the relevance of As question to bs answer.
4. Maxim of Manner
Maxim of Manner means that the participants have to be perspicuous and also
they have to avoid obscurity of expression and avoid ambiguity. The
utterances of the participant produces are brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)
and be orderly (Grundy, 2000:75). The maxim of manner can be seen in this
example.
Ana : Where was Median yesterday?
Roni : She went to the cinema and she watched Superman vs Batman movie.
The Ronis statement above fulfills the maxim of manner for it gives clear
explanation and is orderly structured.
E. Flouting Maxim
According to Grundy (2000: 78), Flouting maxim is a particularly silent way of
getting an addressee to draw inference and hence recover an implicature. Moreover,
Cutting (2002: 37) states that when the speaker seems not to hold on the maxims
but expect the listeners to get the meaning implied, it is called flouting the maxims.
According to Cutting (2002: 37) The flouting of each maxim is determined on the
basis of the following criteria:

1. The Flouting Maxim of Quantity

2. The Flouting Maxim of Quality
3. The Flouting Maxim of Relevance
4. The Flouting Maxim of Manner
F. Hedging Maxim
Hedge is an expression of a speaker in his/her utterance to show that he/she is aware of
maxims of Cooperative Principles but not fully observing it. Hedge is usually used by a
speaker to mark that his/her utterance may not be really true, to mention that some
utterances that are not really connected to the previous one, and to show that he/she is
trying to observe maxims of Cooperative Principles. By using hedges, the speaker shows the
listener that she does not have complete information about the topic being discussed about
as in the example below.
I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a wedding ring on her finger. (Yule, 1996:38)
By using hedge in his/her utterance, the speakers utterance will be understood as maxim
hedging of quality. This utterance shows that the speaker is not sure whether the
information about the girl they are talking about is married or not. But he/she wants to
assure the listener that at some points, he/she has seen her wearing a wedding ring on her
finger.
 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD

A. Research Design
The researcher uses descriptive qualitative method as type of
research. Descriptive qualitative approach depends its research in
the natural context and the process in understanding the
experience that is explored by the object of the research. Natural
context and the process in understanding the experience that is
explored by the object of the research will give a result that is rich
with the description of the object and how the object of the
research can go through the experience.
B. Data and Sources
Concerning with the study of analysis, the data source of this research
is The Imitation Game movie. The data of this research are in the
form of utterances which involves flouting and hedging maxims in text
script The Imitation Game movie
C. Research Instrumen
In this study, the researcher find out the answer of the problems of
the study by conducting some ways of data collection. Then, the
researcher observe the utterances produced by the characters on
movie The Imitation Game. The main aim is to get the real and
representative data from the original sources or primary data. Finally,
the researcher watch and look for some utterances which flouted and
hedged the maxims that are related to the problems of the research.
D. Data Collection Technique
The data collected in this research were all utterances containing maxim
flouting and hedging of Cooperative Principle (CP) in the movie The Imitation
Game. To get the original and valid data, the researcher uses the following
steps. Firstly, the researcher watching the movie and reading the script
carefully . Secondly, the researcher observes every word or sentence which
are flouted and hedged by the main characters. Thirdly, the researcher
reduced the data to simplify it. It was done by separating the relevant data
from the utterances that were considered irrelevant to the theory applied.
Finally, the researcher arranges the data which are appropriate with the
problem of the research.
 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Research Finding
1. Type of Flouting maxim
Maxim flouting is a way of the speaker that does not observe the maxims of Cooperative Principles, yet, he/she expects the hearer
to understand and convey the message behind it. The discussion below will show how the speaker flouts a maxim.
a. Flouting Maxim Quantity
By using maxim flouting of quantity, the speaker is giving either too much or too little information about the topic being talked
about.
Datum 1
Commander Denniston : What are you doing here?
Alan Turing : Uh, the lady told me to wait.
Commander Denniston : In my office? Did she tell you to help yourself to tea while you were here?
Alan Turing : Uh... No, she didn't.
Commander Denniston : She obviously didn't tell you what a joke was then, either, I gather?
Alan Turing : Was she supposed to?

In data 1 above, the conversation occurs in Baletchley Radio Manufacturing. Alan Turing comes to have a job interview and the
assistant asked him to wait in Commander Dennistons office. When Commander Denniston came and saw Alan Turing in his office he
asked What are you doing here? and Alan Turing answer The Lady (Commander Dennistons assistant) told me to wait. Alan
Turing flouts the maxim of quantity by giving too little response in answering Commander dennistons question about for what the
Alan Turing doing in his office. The Alan Turings answer in uncooperative and didnt gave the information really need.
Datum 2
Commander Denniston : Well, that's not very technical. Hugh Alexander is in charge of your
unit. He said no and that is that.
Alan Turing : I simply don't have time for this.
Commander Denniston : Have you ever won a war, Turing? I have. Do you know how it's done?
Order. Discipline. Chain of command. You're not at university any longer. You are a very small cog
in a very large system and you will do as your commanding officer instructs.
Alan Turing : Who... Who is your commanding officer?
Commander Denniston : Winston Churchill, Number 10 Downing Street, London SW1. You have
a problem with my decision, you can take it up with him.
From the conversation above when Alan Turing complained to Commander Denniston about Hugh
Alexander. He had denied his requisition for parts and equipment that he needed to build the
machine that Alan had designed. Commander Denniston supported the decision of Alexander. He
said to Alan Turing that now Alan is not a professor at university anymore, now he works in the
large system and he couldnt always do anything that he wants, he will do as his Commanding
officer instruct. Instead Alan asked Who is the commanding officer of Commander Denniston.
Based on the the answer of Commander Deniston Winston Churchill, Number 10 Downing Street,
London SW1. You have a problem with my decision, you can take it up with him above , the
researcher classifieds the data as flouting maxim of Quantity because the Commander
Dennistons answer contains too much responds towards Alan Turings question. He actually can
simply answer Alans questions by saying his commanding officers name only.
b. Flouting Maxim Quality
Datum 3
Commander Denniston : Do you know how many people I've rejected for this
programme?
Alan Turing : No.
Commander Denniston :That's right. Because we're a top secret programme.
But I'll tell you, just because we're friends, that only last week I rejected one of
our great nation's top linguists. Knows German better than Bertolt Brecht.
The conversation above is still the situation of the Job interview between
Commander Denniston and Alan Turing. Commander Denniston wanted to show
Alan Turing that the program is really important, so careless people can not be
accepted in those program. In the statement from Commander Denniston That's
right. Because we're a top secret programme. But I'll tell you, just because
we're friends, that only last week I rejected one of our great nation's top
linguists. Knows German better than Bertolt Brecht , Commander Denniston
flouted maxim of quality. The statement But I'll tell you, just because we're
friends its not the real context that he wanted to tell because Alan Turing was
his friend, Commander Denniston only wanted to show Allan Turing that if he
could rejected one of the great nation's top linguists that speak german better
than Betlot Brecht, is it possible for him to reject Alan Turing too.
c. Floating Maxim Relevance
Datum 6
Detective Nock : Professor Turing? Detective Nock, Manchester Police. Sergeant Staehl here tells me you had a
burglary last night. Professor Turing?
Alan Turing : Take a step back and don't breathe heavily.
Detective Nock : Breathe?
Alan Turing : Undiluted cyanide. It wouldn't take more than a thimbleful to kill you. Ahh.. Disappointing.
Detective Nock : Pardon?
Alan Turing : I had hoped for a bit more.
Detective Nock : Sergeant Staehl, is it just me or do you get the sense that we're being insulted?
Sergeant Staehl : Last night you had a break-in. Your neighbour Mr Spring born called to report the noise. He said
there was quite a ruckus. Only you say nothing was taken. It's odd. So how about you tell us what happened and we'll find
the chap who did this.
Alan Turing : Gentlemen, I don't believe that you could find the chap that did this if he walked up to you and spat
in your face. What I could use right now is not a bobby but a really good cleaning lady.So unless one of you has an apron in
your car, I suggest you tile your reports and leave me alone.
Detective Nock : As you say, Professor Turing. Best of luck with your cyanide.

The conversation above happened at the Alan Turings House, this was among Alan Turing, Sergeant Staehl and Detective
Nock from Manchester Police. Sergeant Staehl and detective Nock wanted to make the investigation about the report
from Alan Turings neighbour that he had a burglary last night. The conversation above consists of two maxim relevance,
the first it is shown from Alan Turing statement Take a step back and don't breathe heavily, Alan Turing flout the maxim
relevance because his answer is unmatched to the Detective Nocks question. And the second is the statement from
Sergeant Staehl Last night you had a break-in. Your neighbour Mr Springborn called to report the noise. He said there
was quite a ruckus. Only you say nothing was taken. It's odd. So how about you tell us what happened and we'll find the
chap who did this, Sargaent staehl didnt respond the statement from Detective Nock Sergeant Staehl, is it just me or do
you get the sense that we're being insulted?.
Datum 7
Joan Clarke : Why are you helping me?
Alan Turing : Because there is only one thing that matters in this entire world right now, do you understand?
And that is breaking Enigma.
Joan Clarke : But... But Mr Turing... Why are you helping me?
Alan Turing : Oh, um... Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things
that no one can imagine.
The context of conversation above is in Joan Clarkes house. Alan want Joan to work in Baletchley Radio
Manufacturing but shedidnt come. Therefore, Alan Turing come to Joan Clarke to find out why Joan didnt come
to work. And Alan convince Joans parent to allow her to working at Baletchley Radio Manufacturing. Joan asked
why Alan help her and Alan answer Because there is only one thing that matters in this entire world right now,
do you understand? And that is breaking Enigma. The Alans statement flout the maxim of relevance because
Alan do unmatched conversation.

Datum 8
Alan Turing : They only beat me up because I'm smarter than they are.
Christopher : No, they beat you up because you're different.
Alan Turing : Mother says I'm just an odd duck. And she's right.
Christopher : But you know, Alan, sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of who do
the things no one can imagine.
In datum 8 above, that scene showed the past when Alan Turing still in high school. After Christopher helped
Alan that bullied by the others friends, Alan blamed himself about the thing that happened. In respond to Alans
statement, Christopher flouts the maxim of relevance by state sometimes it's the very people who no one
imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine. He implies that maybe someday Alan will do
something big that no one can imagine. He dont want Alan always blamed himself and assume that he just an
odd duck.
d. Flouting Maxim Manner
By using maxim flouting of manner, a speaker is expressing his/her intention which is not clear enough
for the hearer. This condition can make an utterance has some possible meanings that need to be
conveyed by the hearer.

Datum 10
John : Would you like to come to lunch with us?
Alan Turing : What time's lunchtime?
Hugh Alexander : Christ, Alan, it's a bleeding sandwich.
Alan Turing : What is?
Hugh Alexander : Lunch.
Alan Turing : I don't like sandwiches.
John : Never mind.
The conversation above happen in Baletchley office, John asked Alan Would you like to come to lunch
with us?. Instead Alan Turing asked What time's lunchtime? the Alans answer flout the maxim of
relevance, because unmatched with john question. Alexander said Christ, Alan, it's a bleeding sandwich
the statement it's a bleeding sandwich of Alexander means is time for lunch. But Alan Turing think that
Alexander want to buy sandwich for lunch. From the Alans statement I don't like sandwiches is
classified as hedging maxims of Manner because a speaker is expressing his intention which is not clear
enough for the hearer such the statement of Alexander it's a bleeding sandwich. This condition can
make an utterance has some possible meanings that need to be conveyed by the hearer.
Datum 11
John : The boys... We're going to get some lunch. Alan?
Alan Turing : Yes?
John : I said we're going to get some lunch. Alan?
Alan Turing : Yes?
John : Can you hear me?
Alan Turing : Yes.
John : I said we're off to get some... This is starting to get a little bit
repetitive.
Alan Turing : What is?
In the datum 11 above, John is said to Alan that they want to get some lunch.
John want to ask Alan whether he want to follow with them or not. But Alan does
not respond the statement of John. Alan think that John just give him
information that they want to going to get some lunch. John statement flouts
maxim of manner because inflict the ambiguity to Alan.
2. Hedging Maxim
Datum 1
Jack Good : What are those?
Alan Turing : Apples.
Hugh Alexander : No.
Jack Good : Oh, they really are. Um, I've
Alan Turing : Well, Miss Clarke... Joan, actually, um, said that it would be nice
if I was to bring you all something. So here we are.
John : Thank you.
Peter : I like apples.
Hugh Alexander : My best to Miss Clarke.
Based on the conversation happened in Baletchley office Alan Turing share apples
for his friends. Alan uses maxim hedging of quality by asserting well in his
utterance that Joan suggests him to bring something for his friends in the office.
Datum 2
Alan Turing : Joan!
Joan Clarke : Could you have made a bit more noise? I'm not quite sure my
landlady woke up.
Alan Turing : Oh, sorry.
Joan Clarke : Oh, uh, look. I think that's the best I can do. No male visitors after
dark. So, what did you bring me?
The conversation above happened when the Alan Turing come to Joan room in
the middle night. The Joans statement I think that's the best I can do is form of
hedges maxim of quality, by saying it, Joan wanted to say that no male visitor
after dark and now she allowed Alan to come in her room.
 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGESTION
A. Conclution

This research is conducted to find what maxims are flouted and hedged used in texts script of The Imitation Game
Movie. The conclusion of this research can be formulated based on the research questions. The researcher uses Grices
theory in analyzing the data. After analyzing the data, the researcher found twenty one data which are appropriate with
the characteristics of flouting. They consist of flouting maxims of quality, flouting maxims of quantity, flouting maxims of
relevance, flouting maxims of manner.

B. Sugestion.

Based on the analysis of the research above, there are several suggestions that the researcher proposes to the following:

For the reader

Maxim flouting and hedging of Cooperative Principles phenomena are the most common and the easiest subjects to be
recognized in the linguistic study. The research will also give some contributions to the Linguistics students since it can be
served as a reference for the linguistic study.

For the next researcher

From the beginning of the research, there are some problems faced by the researcher. One of them was when the
researcher had to deal with the material. Since the material is a film, she needed to find the appropriate film which
contains all the data needed. It means that the film must also have the topics being discussed.
Thank You.....