LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:6 June 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Quantity Maxim and Pakistani Women’s Speech

Sikander Ali, Ph.D. Scholar (NUML, Islamabad)

Abstract

Grice is of the view there should be observance of certain maxims which he termed as, in this book logic and conversation, maxim of quality, quantity, relevance and manner, in speech. Adherence to these maxims makes a speaker so obliged, that the information passed by him/her must carry quantity in it – it should be as informative as is required (Grice, 1975). Observance of these maxims in cooperative principal is a rational behavior which benefits the participants in conversation (Verschueren 1999). In this paper, Qualitative method was used to investigate either observance, or non-observance of Gricean maxim of quantity by females in their formal speech. For finding this, formal presentations of females were recorded in national / international conferences. So, the main focus of this research was to discover if the maxim of quantity was either observed, or not by females in their formal speech, or not. The results have proved that there does exist non-observance of quantity maxim in Pakistani females’ formal speech.

Introduction

Gricean maxims and gender issues attracted the attention of many researchers to embark on this topic. According to Lakoff, there are multiple ways of women’s speaking, which reflect their marginal, or subordinate role in a society. According to her, women’s language is loaded with linguistic devices such as, mitigators, inessential qualifiers and so on. This language renders women’s speech tentative, powerless and trivial, which is why they more often than not, are disqualified from the position of power and authority. This shows that language itself is a tool of domination which is learned as a part of learning to be a woman, in which societal norms plays a vital role. This ultimately keeps women in their place (Lakoff, 1975).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sikander Ali, Ph.D. Scholar (NUML, Islamabad)
Assistant Professor
Lahore Garrison University
Pakistan
sikander_ali_shah@yahoo.com
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