co-operative principle

A term derived from the work of the philosopher H. P. Grice (1913–88) and now frequently used in LINGUISTICS as part of the study of conversational structure. At its simplest, the principle states that speakers try to co-operate with each other when communicating: they will, in particular, attempt to be informative, truthful, relevant and clear (MAXIMS of ‘quantity’, ‘quality’, ‘relation’ and ‘manner’ respectively). Listeners will normally assume that a speaker is following these criteria. Speakers may break these maxims (in lying, sarcasm, political debates, etc.) but conversation proceeds on the assumption that they do not. It is then possible to deduce implications from what HAS been said concerning what has NOT been said (conversational IMPLICATURES), though the extent to which this can be done consistently and generally is somewhat controversial.