Conversational implicature used by 4 main characters in extra english series

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES  PHẠM THỊ THANH LOAN CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE USED BY FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS IN EXTRA ENGLISH SERIES (Hàm ý hội thoại bốn nhân vật sử dụng phim Extra English) MA THESIS – TYPE Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 HÀ NỘI – 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  PHẠM THỊ THANH LOAN CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE USED BY FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS IN EXTRA ENGLISH SERIES (Hàm ý hội thoại bốn nhân vật sử dụng phim Extra English) MA THESIS – TYPE Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, Ph.D HÀ NỘI – 2018 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “Conversational implicature used by four main characters in Extra English series” is the result of my own work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts of Faculty at Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi The research has not been submitted to any other universities or institutions Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest and sincere gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm for her stimulating suggestions, critical comments and endless support Also, many thanks go to my parents and all my close friends who always encourage me to keep up my work All their caring and encouragements are valuable mental support for me to strive more and come over all difficulties ii ABSTRACT This research aims to identify the types of maxims flouting performed by four main characters, to explain the strategies and reasons used by four main characters to flout the maxims Moreover, the study is undertaken as an attempt to discover the similarities and differences in their habits of flouting maxims The research employed both quantitative and qualitative method The data were in the form of utterances The source of data was Extra English series The researcher employed some steps to collect the data: watching the episodes and transcribing the equivalent data to pinpoint the frequency, the strategies and functions used There are three results in this study The first result is that all the types of maxim are flouted by four main characters and maxim of relation is flouted the most often The second result is that there are seven strategies and fourteen reasons used to flout the maxims The last result draws comparison of the way different characters flouting the maxims iii TABLES OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF FIGURES vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1.2 Aims of the study and research questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study .3 1.5 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Pragmatics 2.2 Implicature .6 2.3 Grice‟s conversational implicature 2.3.1 Conventional implicature 2.3.2 Conversational implicature 2.3.3 Cooperative principle 2.3.4 Non-observance of Maxims 2.4 Later developments 13 2.5 Horn‟s Q principle and R principle 14 2.6 Relevance theory 15 2.7 Review of previous studies 17 iv CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 A brief introduction of “Extra English” 19 3.2 Data collection 20 3.3 Data analysis 20 3.4 Analytical framework 21 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 24 4.1 Findings 24 4.1.1 The flouting of maxims 24 4.1.2 Strategies of maxim flouting performed by main characters 26 4.2 Discussion 27 4.2.1 The flouting of the maxim of quantity 28 4.2.2 The flouting of the maxim of quality 33 4.2.3 The flouting of the maxim of relation 40 4.2.4 The flouting of the maxim of manner 42 4.2.5 Strategies of maxims flouting 45 4.2.6 Reasons of maxim flouting 51 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 56 5.1 Conclusions 56 5.1.1 Answer to research question 56 5.1.2 Answer to research question 57 5.2 Implications of the study 59 5.3 Limitations of the study 59 5.4 Suggestions for further study 60 REFERENCES 61 v APPENDIX Flouting maxim of Relation Flouting maxim of Quantity Flouting maxim of Quality Flouting maxim of Manner vi LIST OF FIGURES List of tables No Tab Table 3.1 Types of flouting Gri used Table 4.1 The number of times characters Table 4.2 The ways to flout m Table 4.3 Flouting maxim of re Table 4.4 Flouting maxim of qu Table 4.5 Flouting maxim of m Table 4.6 Flouting maxim of qu Table 4.7 Reasons of flouting m List of charts No Cha Chart 4.1 Tendency of characte Chart 4.2 The strategies of max Chart 4.3 The strategy used to Chart 4.4 The strategies used to Chart 4.5 The strategy used to Charts 4.6 The strategies used vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This initial chapter presents the problem and the rationale, the aims, the scope and the significance of the thesis Most importantly, the research questions are identified to work as a guideline for the whole research 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Learning a language is much more complicated than understanding the words themselves, when the meanings put in different contexts may create different results Therefore, it is essential for language learners to thoroughly understand utterances under certain circumstances Among various fields of studying discourse analysis, conversational implicature is worth being taken into consideration since the hidden meanings it carries really can result in the misunderstanding of a conversation Extra English series is selected for this research due to three main reasons First, this is a language education television series designed for learning English purposes, which is quite familiar with those who learn English Second, with 30 hilarious, half-hour sitcom programmes conducted in an authentic London setting, the study is expected to represent the way native speakers use language in daily life Last, we can see how laughter is created based on the hidden meanings under the words through funny situations of this sitcom There are certain previous studies conducted about implicature with diverse types of objects; however, with this study, the researcher would like to put one more brick to the study of implicature in a different context Furthermore, since it is observed that Vietnamese learners of English often fail in considering the context when speaking English to foreigners, which results in some improper replies, this study is expected to contribute to understanding language in pragmatics With the aforementioned reasons, the researcher is encouraged to conduct a study on 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 IV 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 VII Flouting maxim of Quantity No Episode 2 3 4 7 8 9 10 10 11 11 12 IX 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Flouting maxim of Quality No Episode 1 4 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 XV 25 26 27 28 XVI Flouting maxim of Manner No Episode 14 16 XVIII ... on ? ?Conversational implicature used by four main characters in Extra English series? ?? In this study, the researcher attempts to see how conversational implicature used in this series Besides, with... flouting and explain the strategies used to flout those maxims by the main characters in English Extra English series to identify the differences and similarities in the purposes of each main character... maxims In order to gain the objectives, the research is conducted to answer the following research questions: How are conversational implicature used by four main characters in Extra English series?