The violation of Maxims in the conversation of “Step Up 2”

ABSTRACT

Conversation in daily life is commonly spontaneous and natural. Grice in Mijas (2005) states the conversations are governed by rules and principle of language. Then, the conversation becomes successful when the speaker and the hearer are cooperative one another. The conversation must be informative, true, relevant and clear. In fact, the speaker may not fulfill the maxim and deliberately break it by some reasons. It can occur especially in different or some cultures and languages. Hence, I choose “Step Up 2” because this movie has unique linguistic features. In some cases, the language used in this movie is African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Then, I analyze how the violation of the maxims in four ways occurred between the major and minor characters in “Step Up 2”.

This research uses descriptive qualitative research. It describes the conversation between the major and minor characters in “Step Up 2”. It depends on how the situation and condition of certain social phenomena are created and given meaning. Also, it deals with discourse study because it analyzes how the language used in daily life, especially how the utterances related to the violation of maxims in four ways in conversation of “Step Up 2”. I begin from identifying the data and then analyzing it in deeply.

From “Step Up 2”, I found 14 speech events related to the violation of maxims between the major and minor characters. Most utterances are both violating of maxims and flouting the maxims. It was because the speaker deliberately breaks the maxims with some intended meaning. Even though, the speaker does not deliver opting out the maxim in “Step Up 2”, it shows that the characters do not essentially show unwilling cooperativeness.

Finally, I make the conclusion about the utterances of the violation of maxims between the major and minor characters in “Step Up 2”. Even though the speaker and the hearer often violate the maxims in their conversations but the conversations still run smoothly. Also, Grice cooperative principle can prove useful for both the speaker and the hearer. Besides, it applies in cross-culture communications. Hence, violating the maxims does not break the conversation exchange.

From these findings, I suggest the readers especially the students of English Letters and Language Department to learn more about the violation of maxims because it functions effectively in delivering communication. Also, it is suggested to analyze different genres and media especially dialogue or TV shows. Furthermore, the future researchers may focus more on clashing of maxims or opt outing the maxims to fill the gap of this research.