In the following conversation, the violation of which Gricean maxim of conversation gives rise to humour?
Ram: I got a new car for my son.
Shyam: That is a great exchange!
Shyam: That is a great exchange!
Show Hint
- Maxim of Relation
- Maxim of Quality
- Maxim of Quantity
- Maxim of Manner
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Grice (1975) proposed four conversational maxims:
- Maxim of Quantity: Provide as much information as required.
- Maxim of Quality: Say only what you believe to be true.
- Maxim of Relation: Be relevant.
- Maxim of Manner: Avoid obscurity and ambiguity; be clear. Step 2: Analyzing the conversation
Ram says: "I got a new car for my son." This clearly means he bought a car as a gift for his son.
Shyam responds: "That is a great exchange!" Here, Shyam humorously interprets the sentence as if Ram literally exchanged his son for a car, which is irrelevant to Ram's intended meaning.
This humour arises because Shyam's response ignores the intended relevance and interprets the sentence in an unrelated way.
Step 3: Eliminating wrong options
- (B) Maxim of Quality: No falsehood is told here; just a misinterpretation.
- (C) Maxim of Quantity: No issue of too much or too little information.
- (D) Maxim of Manner: The utterance was clear, not ambiguous.
Step 4: Conclusion
The humour is caused by violating the \emph{Maxim of Relation}, since Shyam's response is contextually irrelevant to Ram's intended meaning. \[ \boxed{\text{Correct Answer: (A)}} \]
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