An investigation into the flouting of conversational maxims employed by male and female guests in

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FLOUTING OF CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS EMPLOYED BY MALE AND FEMALE GUESTS IN THE AMERICAN TALK SHOW “THE ELLEN SHOW” Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 822.02.01 MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES Da Nang, 2020 THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FLOUTING OF CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS EMPLOYED BY MALE AND FEMALE GUESTS IN THE AMERICAN TALK SHOW “THE ELLEN SHOW” Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 822.02.01 MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH HOA, Assoc Prof Dr Da Nang, 2020 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole, or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgements in the thesis The thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Da Nang, 2020 Author Trần Thị Huyền Trang ii ABSTRACT This research is carried out with the aim of investigating pragmatic features of maxim flouting employed by male and female guests in the American talk show “The Ellen Show” Besides, the study discovers similarities and differences in terms of conversational maxim flouting between two genders The data for analysis are 72 situations of maxim flouting for each gender in “The Ellen Show” In order to reach the goal, the study design was based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches The methods applied in the research were descriptive and comparative ones The findings of this study reveal that although both genders shared some similarities in the pragmatic features of maxim flouting, each gender reflects its own tendency of language style in communication With regard to types of maxim flouting, all four types proposed by Grice (i.e Quality, Quantity, Relation and Manner) were identified in the samples of both genders Additionally, instances of Mixed Maxim Flouting have been discovered in both genders As far as rhetorical strategies are concerned, all six types of Grundy‟s rhetorical strategies consisting of Tautology, Metaphor, Overstatement, Understatement, Rhetorical Question and Irony were applied in conversational maxim flouting situations of male and female guests However, there are a number of instances where no rhetorical strategies were used, especially the instances of female Besides, Mixed Rhetorical Strategies have been discovered, but only in the instances of female guests In terms of purposes of maxim flouting, 16 purposes employed by male and female guests were identified: joking, teasing the hearer, expressing one’s feeling, refusing a request, giving a clear explanation, saving face, showing modesty, showing politeness, emphasizing a fact, hiding the truth, maintaining self-esteem, maintaining relationship, satisfying the hearer, avoiding hurting the hearer, convincing someone and arousing curiosity It is hoped that the results can contribute some useful knowledge to pragmatic features of maxim flouting in daily conversation as well as teaching and learning English to Vietnamese learners iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF TABLES vii Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE .1 1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1 Aim 1.2.2 Objectives 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .6 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW ANG THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .8 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .9 2.2.1 Pragmatics 2.2.2 Conversational Implicature 10 2.2.3 Cooperative Principle .11 2.2.4 Flouting of Conversational Maxims .13 2.2.5 Strategies of Maxim Flouting 17 2.2.6 Language and Gender .19 2.2.7 Talk show and Description of the Ellen Show .20 2.3 SUMMARY .23 iv Chapter Three METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN .25 3.2 RESEARCH METHODS 25 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 25 3.4 DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLES .26 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS 27 3.6 PROCEDURE 28 3.7 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY .28 Chapter Four FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 4.1 PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF MAXIM FLOUTING EMPLOYED BY MALE GUESTS IN “THE ELLEN SHOW” 30 4.1.1 Types of Maxim Flouting Employed by Male Guests 30 4.1.2 Rhetorical Strategies for Maxim Flouting Employed by Male Guests 32 4.1.3 Purposes of Maxim Flouting Employed by Male Guests 35 4.2 PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF MAXIM FLOUTING EMPLOYED BY FEMALE GUESTS IN “THE ELLEN SHOW” .40 4.2.1 Types of Maxim Flouting Employed by Female Guests 40 4.2.2 Rhetorical strategies for Maxim Flouting Employed by Female Guests 42 4.2.3 Purposes of Maxim Flouting Employed by Female Guests 46 4.3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE GUESTS IN TERMS OF CONVERSATIONAL MAXIM FLOUTING IN “THE ELLEN SHOW” 51 4.3.1 Types of Maxim Flouting .51 4.3.2 Rhetorical strategies .52 4.3.3 Purposes of Maxim Flouting 54 Chapter Five CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 57 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 57 5.2 IMPLICATIONS 59 v 5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY .60 5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCHES 60 REFERENCES SOURCES OF DATA APPENDIX QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN (bản sao) vi LIST OF TABLES Number of Names of Tables Tables 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Data coding Types of maxim flouting employed by male guests in “The Ellen Show” Rhetorical strategies of maxim flouting employed by male guests in “The Ellen Show” Purposes of maxim flouting employed by male guests in “The Ellen Show” Types of maxim flouting employed by female guests in “The Ellen Show” Rhetorical strategies of maxim flouting employed by female guests in “The Ellen Show” Purposes of maxim flouting employed by female guests in “The Ellen Show” Page 27 32 35 36 42 46 47 vii LIST OF FIGURES Number of Names of Figures Figures 2.1 2.2 4.1 Instances of flouting maxims Page where speaker intentionally fails to observe one or more maxims Analytical construct Types of maxim flouting employed by male and female guests in “The Ellen Show”(in percentage) 16 24 52 Rhetorical strategies for maxim flouting employed by 4.2 male and female guests in “The Ellen Show” (in 53 percentage) 4.3 Purposes of maxim flouting employed by male and female guests in “The Ellen Show” (in percentage) 54 Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE It is generally known that entertainment is regarded as an indispensable part in our daily life Among entertainment programmes, TV show is one of the most popular sources of relaxation Besides, TV show in English is of great benefit to English language learners since it provides them with natural English conversations so that they can enrich the target language Nevertheless, learning a language as a foreign language is not an easy process since it requires more than knowing linguistic features and four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing If the learners not have basic knowledge of pragmatics, which refers to the relationship between language in use and the context in which it is used, they can hardly understand situations in TV shows Among central aspects of Pragmatics, conversational implicature is one of the single most important idea, as pointed out by Levinson [1] It is assumed that in conversation a speaker may often mean to deliver his message implicitly for specific purposes Implicature is employed by interlocutors by various means, flouting Grice’s maxims (including quality, quantity, relation and manner) is one common way used by speakers to imply something There have been some researches in line with the flouting of conversational maxims in films or sitcoms so far, which reveal types of maxims flouted or reasons for flouting maxims However, the issue of flouting maxims in interviews of TV shows where conversations between hosts and guests run naturally, not based on scripts, have not received much investigation yet In this study, the researcher chose interviews in The Ellen Show, a popular TV show for people all around the world, especially for English language learners, to analyse the flouting of Grice‟s maxim with the intention to help English language learners who are keen on watching the show to enhance their language as well as pragmatic competence An additional factor Christmas Ellen supposes that her boy is so romantic and then wants to know what Jennifer gave him for Christmas In response to Ellen‟s question, she flouts relation maxim because what she mentions is definitely irrelevant It can be assumed that she does not want to mention that, maybe because she did not give him any gift, or she just does not want to reveal Therefore, hiding the truth is the purpose of the relation maxim flouting Ellen: Do you have any joking In this case, Ellen is men that areteasing Diane In fact, Diane: Men, what Diane has never been we talk about now? married though she is in What you talk about her seventies In reply when you say the man? to Ellen, she uses Ellen: I talk about the overstatement strategy man, I talk about men through expressions Is there a man-front such as “could buy one that you‟re interested of these” or “not see in? any men out here”, Diane: I don’t have a which flouts quality maxim because her man in my life I could contribution is patently buy one of these untrue Her purpose is though maybe But I to make joke with Ellen don’t see any men out as Ellen teases her here Ellen: So you‟re not jet emphasizing To emphasize the fact lagged anymore a fact that she is still tired Portia: I don‟t think so after a long flight, really nice for our two-year anniversary, which is really nice, which I haven’t told anybody You want me to tell you? Ellen: Yeah No, no I don‟t want to know Jennifer: I could tell you later fe/48/qual/ over fe/49/qual/ over What day is it? fe/50/man/ no fe/51/re/no Ellen: So you‟re going showing to stay in Brooklyn or politeness you‟re going to move out here? Sophia: I like LA Ellen: That doesn‟t sound like that Sophia: No, I love LA It’s a good place to have a vacation at, but I like New York because I can kind of, I’m used to it, you know? I love the weather I actually really like colder weather, and I really, like just recently, there was rain and everybody was frantic about it Everyone came up to me and that was all they talked about And I was like, yeah, good job on the rain Ellen: Yeah Ellen: So you‟re saving face driving in Brooklyn? Sophia: I’m getting my driver’s license I have my permit It’s going fine I actually had a driving lesson beforehand and I completely failed And Portia overstates her condition through the question “What day is it?”, which flouts quality maxim When being asked whether she is going to stay in Brooklyn or she is going to move out there, Sophia gives an indirect explanation instead of choosing directly which place she is going to live in Manner maxim is flouted because her response seems not quite clear for an alternative question Her purpose is to be polite in this case Actually, if she immediately chooses Brooklyn, others can assume that she does not like LA, which appears impolite because she is in LA now Being asked whether she is driving in Brooklyn, Sophia mentions her plan to get driver‟s license, which implies that she cannot drive It is obvious that her response is irrelevant to Ellen‟s fe/52/quan/no I told everybody that I was going to fail I was like, I was sure of it And I actually didn’t even I , like didn’t even spend one minute in the car before he called me ma’am, and then he said just get out of the car Ellen: Well, I‟m glad you‟re staying in Brooklyn That‟s great Ellen: She goes – showing Chicagoat politeness Beth: Yeah, you know, I mean, I love Kim She was on Two Broke Girls And I think she’s lovely So that one, let me put that right here Ellen: Ok Yeah Beth: And we‟ll keep going question, which flouts relation maxim The purpose of the maxim flouting is to save face for herself It can be assumed that mentioning directly that she cannot drive would be more embarrassing for her Ellen is playing random names on the screen so that Beth can choose a name for her new baby goat When it comes to the name Chicagoat Kardashian West, Beth mentions that she loves Kim and how she finds Kim before refusing the name In this case, she flouts quantity maxim because her contribution seems more excessive than needed In fact, that name is similar to a celebrity‟s name, Kim Kardashian West If she immediately refuses the name, that would be rude because others can assume that she finds the name not good Therefore, to show her politeness in this situation, Beth gives an fe/53/re/no fe/54/quan/rhe explanation before refusing the name Ellen: You look so emphasizing In this situation, Ellen good and so rested a fact supposes that P!nk is in You were at the a good state despite the Staples Center last fact that she had a night performance at the P!nk: Do I? Staples Center last Ellen: Yeah, you night In reply to Ellen, P!nk: I have a very P!nk mentions her good artist Her contribution good makeup artist Ellen: Yeah No, you seems irrelevant, so You look great relation maxim is flouted The purpose of the maxim flouting is to emphasize the fact that actually she does not feel good like her appearance Ellen: So what about emphasizing When being asked the tabloid cover that a fact about the rumour that said that you and Reese she and Reese were were having babies or having babies, Jennifer something? asks the rhetorical Jennifer: Right, isn’t question in return “Right, isn‟t that that cute? Ellen: Adorable cute?” She then Jennifer: Isn’t that confirms that it is so amazing before denying amazing how we both the rumour Her are…, no, just to be contribution seems clear, again, I’m 47 excessive, which flouts We’ve wrapped it up quantity maxim In this We’re not case, her intention is to doing…Reese, on the emphasize the fact that other hand, I think she it is totally untrue might be rumour because that both of them were having babies is so cute, she has no reason to conceal that fe/55/qual/ over fe/56/quan/no Ellen: What you giving a think is the best advice clear about being a mother? explanation Kris: When you first become a mom, I think the most important thing is just to enjoy every second, because it goes by so fast I mean, so fast, in a blink of an eye We celebrated Courtney’s 40th birthday this last month and I can’t believe I have a 40year-old … When giving advice about being a mother, Kris overstates the period of being a mom She supposes that it goes by “so fast, in a blink of an eye” or “I can‟t believe I have a 40-year-old”, which implies how fast the time is Her utterances are exaggerated, so quality maxim is flouted The purpose of maxim flouting is to give a clear explanation for her advice of enjoying every second when you first become a mom Reese: We always have avoiding When being asked the best time together hurting the whether she and Ellen Ellen: Yes, we Do hearer have a better time you think you and I together than she and have a better time Jen, Reese does not together than you and answer the question Jen? directly She explains Reese: Well, I mean, that she and Jen know each other better and Jen and I know each mentions what they other better because have done together so we’re really, really far, which implies that good friends And we she has a better time just finished our with Jen With the television show that we intention of avoiding have coming out hurting Ellen‟s feeling, together It’s called she gives an indirect The Morning Show explanation instead The quantity maxim is flouted because the information she fe/57/quan/no fe/58/qual/ under provides is excessive Ellen: Did your saving face In this situation, Ellen daughters like it? and Melissa are talking Melissa: Yeah, I about Melissa‟s replacement for Ellen to showed it to my girls host the show the last And I was like, I just time Ellen then wants did The Ellen Show, to know whether her guys I’m kind of a big daughters like it deal You know, we’ll Instead of answering watch it And then directly, she describes they put it on, they what happened in detail were, like, when is to show that her Ellen coming out? daughter does not like When does she come that, they just want out? I was like, I’m Ellen to host the show hosting it for her And Quantity maxim is there seemed to be like flouted because the a blatant, like, they information provided were angry that it was seem excessive The just me They’re like, purpose of the maxim she’s never coming flouting is to save face out? I’m like, that’s for herself She tries to why I’m hosting it for imply that the reason her They’re like, it’s why her daughters does her show, it seems like not like it is due to their she should come out love for Ellen, not because of her fault Mindy: And I think I emphasizing Mindy mentions her participation in the Met have a nice career and a fact Gala Then to I’m doing well But emphasize the fact that the minute I go to the the event is so big and Met, I’m the least there are a large famous person there number of celebrities and billionaires there, Mindy understates her status when compared as the others She supposes that “I‟m the least person there”, fe/59/qual/ir Jennifer: I heard that I just had a million dollar body makeover Ellen: Did you read that? No, you got a million dollar body Jennifer: Apparently, I had a million dollar makeover Ellen: Wow Jennifer: So there you go And it costs a million dollars Ellen: That‟s amazing, so the whole body was done Jennifer: You just sort of lift it all, and then tie it, and snip it, and throw it out fe/60/quan/no Ellen: Even though it‟s been a couple of days since the Emmys, you probably went partying afterwards, right? Penelope: You know I’m not very much a party person So I tried But I was very jet-lagged, so I lasted until 11:00 Ellen: Oh, well, that‟s not bad which flouts quality maxim because her contribution is lack of adequate evidence joking In this context, Jennifer mentions the rumour that she just had a million dollar body make over Ellen then denies that and supposes that she has a million dollar body instead However, Jennifer ironically states that indeed she had a million dollar makeover and describes what happened with their body It is obvious from her expression that she does not believe what she states, which flouts quality maxim The purpose of the maxim flouting is to make a joke of the rumour about her giving a When being asked clear whether she went explanation partying after the Emmys, Penelop flouts quantity maxim because her reply to a Yes/ No question seems more excessive than required Penelope gives an explanation that she is not very much a party person but she tried to join the party and gives the time fe/61/quan/rhe fe/62/man/ no she left The purpose of the maxim flouting is to make her contribution clearer for the hearer Melissa: I‟m at emphasizing Melissa mentions how Wilshire Wig, like, at a fact often she goes to least once a month I Wilshire Wig Ellen was just in there a then wants to know week and a half ago what she does there In Ellen: Really? reply to Ellen, she asks Melissa: Yes Ellen the rhetorical Ellen: What you question “What don‟t I there? there?” and states Melissa: What don’t I the condition and explains the reason there? This is all instead of answering built around a wig directly the question No, every time I start a The information seems movies, I start with a redundant for wig And I want to answering the question, know what she looks so quantity maxim is like, so I go to flouted The purpose of Wilshire Wig the maxim flouting is to emphasize the fact that how often she goes to the wig store and how important the wig is to her whenever she starts a movie Ellen: And so what arousing Ellen and Kelly are happens if they pick curiosity talking about her talk something that is really show, in which she difficult? Have you had starts the show by a song that‟s hard to singing some hit songs sing? of other singers as Kelly: Well, it’s not required Ellen then asks her whether she necessarily that things has had a song that‟s are hard, it’s just that hard to sing Instead of they shouldn’t happen answering directly to Like me covering the question, she Eminem was pretty much the [EXPLOSION SOUND EFFECT] rephrases Ellen‟s statement first “it‟s not necessarily that things are hard, it‟s just that they shouldn‟t happen”, then comparing her covering Eminem, an American rapper, as the sound of explosion \Her reply is not quite clear, so she flouts manner maxim The intention of maxim flouting is to arouse curiosity of the hearer and make them eager to listen to her story When Ellen supposes that she is turning 40 soon, Tiffany tries to mention her age in the obscure way “I‟ll be 21 for the 19th year” The purpose of manner maxim flouting is to make a joke fe/63/man/ no Ellen: So when are you joking turning 40? Soon, right? Tiffany: I’m never going to be 40, but I am turning 21 for the 19th year really soon In December I’ll be 21 for the 19th year fe/64/quan/rhe Ellen: But what emphasizing To emphasize the fact happens if they want to a fact the she does not want be comedians? Would her children to be you want them to be comedians because how comedians? hard the job is, Ali asks Ali: Would you want a rhetorical question “Would you want any any of your progeny to of your progeny to be be comedians? No It’s comedians” in response a hard job, because to Ellen‟s question Her now it’s nice, but utterances seem more staying in those hotels, excessive than needed, sleeping on those which flouts quantity squishy-ass mattresses maxim in those comedy condos that are full of God knows what It’s not safe You know what I mean, for women And I think that’s a big reason why a lot of women don’t stand up, because of the road fe/65/qual/me Ellen (talking about joking Howard Stern): And he‟s a nice guy, right? Jennifer: He‟s a sweetheart Ellen: Really sweet Jennifer: He’s a big drink of tall, sweet water fe/66/qual/ir Ellen: And what were joking you last year? Halsey: Oh, well, I really wanted to something really glamorous and feminine I like flowers and pink and stuff like that So I went as Marilyn Manson In this situation, Ellen and Jennifer are mentioning how sweet Howard is Jennifer then uses the metaphorical figure “a big drink of tall, sweet water” to describe him, which seems awkward and far from the reality Therefore, she flouts quality maxim with the aim of making a joke about Howard Stern, who is actually her friend Ellen and Halsey are discussing about Halloween party Ellen then wants to know how Halsey dressed up last year With the aim of making a joke in this case, Halsey flouts quality maxim with irony strategy She states that she wanted to something “glamorous and feminine” and she liked “flowers and pink fe/67/man/ no Ellen: Not only is your joking documentary really, really good, but it could be possibly nominated for an Oscar You could win an Oscar for that documentary Dr.Ruth: Tell your audience – that’s what I’m wishing for I want to one of those little statues that I saw the other day at the dinner, at the Governors Ball I saw them And I was worried that they would give them all away I want them to keep a little one for me So tell them, tell them fe/68/qual/ over Ellen: Because you‟re joking going to be going to the Oscars for sure, some how, someway Who‟s going to go with you? Laura: I’m going somehow, someway stuff” However, what she chose is totally different Marilyn Manson, who she chose to dress up as, has a totally different appearance from what she has just described He looks quite scary In this context, Ellen is complimenting Dr.Ruth on her documentary and supposes that she could win Oscar In reply to Ellen, Dr.Ruth flouts manner maxim because her utterances seem quite not clear She intentionally describes her desire for winning the Oscar indirectly The purpose of the maxim flouting is to joke with the audience and create a cheerful atmosphere at the beginning of the show In response to Ellen‟s statement that she is going to be going to the Oscars for sure, somehow, someway, Laura flouts quality maxim by using overstatement strategy You and I could go together, and we’ll just break our way in if they don’t let us in Well, again, trying to be a mother that‟s keeping things comfortable, I better not discuss that right now, if I only have a plus one and a couple of kids She states that she and Ellen could go together and just break their way in it, which actually cannot happen The purpose of her maxim flouting is to make joke with Ellen before she answers Ellen‟s question fe/69/qual/ under Ellen: And the last showing time you were here, modesty you were starting the “Endgame” movie right? Is that what you – you were starting that? Brie: Yeah The little movie that could fe/70/qual/ir Ellen: Because you joking wanted to be in People Magazine Kat: I’m a trash person I’m trash, what could I say? But look at that cute little thing! When Ellen mentions Brie‟s role in the blockbuster movie “Endgame”, Brie understates “the little movie”, which is untrue according to the actual fact Therefore, Brie flouts quality maxim with the aim of showing her modesty in this case Ellen and Kat are discussing about her photo with a cat in People Magazine Kat describes how she struggled with the cat to have that nice photo on the magazine Ellen then teases her that she had to deal with the cat just because she wanted to be in People Magazine In response to that, Kat ironically states that she is a trash person while the cat is fe/71/quan/tau the cute little thing In fact, she cannot believe that she is trash as she supposes, which flouts quality maxim In this case, Kat just wants to make joke with Ellen since she teases her Ellen: Really, one of emphasizing In this situation, Ellen them is the sexiest, a fact is mentioning that he‟s in the sexiest Victoria and David issue He‟s the sexiest Beckham has a son who at every age Did you is the sexiest at every know that? age and asks whether Victoria: I don’t know she knows that In her response to Ellen‟s Yes/ if I want to know that No question, Victoria I don’t know if I need flouts quantity maxim, to know – is that which implies that she Brooklyn? doesn‟t care about that, no matter how sexy he is, he is still her son Or maybe she doesn‟t want to hurt the other sons‟ feeling since they might be disappointed if she immediately mentions the name of Brooklyn in this case The strategy found out is tautology, which is shown through the structure “I don‟t know if I…” It can be assumed that the purpose of the maxim flouting is to emphasize that she does not care which one of her sons is considered as the sexiest, they are still her fe/72/quan/over Ellen: It‟s good to see expressing you and thank you so one‟s much You and Steph feeling were a part of our Greatest Night of Giveaways How fun was that? Ayesha: I don’t have any words for it, besides it being fun, obviously It was just – to watch people’s lives change right before your eyes, and for you to give us the opportunity to that for people was just so incredible beloved sons When being asked how fun the Greatest Night of Giveaways was, Ayesha expresses her extreme excitement about that by overstatement strategy, which is shown through the expression “not have any words for it, besides it being fun” Quantity maxim is flouted because her utterances seem quite redundant ... PRAGMATIC FEATURES OF MAXIM FLOUTING EMPLOYED BY FEMALE GUESTS IN ? ?THE ELLEN SHOW” 4.2.1 Types of Maxim Flouting Employed by Female Guests The investigation into 72 instances of female guests reveals... how conversational maxims flouted by male and female guests in a fascinating show, The Ellen Show, the study entitled ? ?An Investigation into the Flouting of Conversational Maxims Employed by Male. . .THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FLOUTING OF CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS EMPLOYED BY MALE AND FEMALE GUESTS IN THE