earticle

영어

There is a common belief that the nature of language lies in communication and that efficient communication needs observance of conversational maxims based on cooperation among participants. However, language doesn't necessarily pursue efficiency or economy and maxims are frequently violated either intentionally or unconsciously in our daily conversations. While violations of conversational maxims may cause inefficient communication accompanying extra efforts by listeners for processing information, they can also result in unexpected psychological effects, that is humor. This paper presents the cooperative principle and four conversational maxims and analyzes humor resulting from violating maxims. Although violations of each maxim would betray the expectations of listeners, the unexpected utterances may make listeners laugh. This article analyzes violations of four conversational maxims exemplifying and explaining a few dialogues and utterances. Finally, the paper shows that humor from violations of maxims is closely related with social and psychological elements and suggests further research should be conducted on the dynamics between verbal expressions and underlying socio-psychological factors.