1

AN ANALYSIS ON DUKE’S FLOUTING CONVERSATIONAL

MAXIMS ON “G.I JOE” FILM

THESIS

Written By:
DENNY BUDIKUSUMA
08360202

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
2014
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AN ANALYSIS ON DUKE’S FLOUTING CONVERSATIONAL

MAXIMS ON “G.I JOE” FILM

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

Written By:
DENNY BUDIKUSUMA
08360202

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
2014
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AN ANALYSIS ON DUKE’S FLOUTING CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS

ON “G.I JOE” FILM

ABSTRACT
Everybody needs language to communicate with other people because by
using language people can make a good communication and good relationship to each
other. Communication needs at least two participants or more to send information to
other people and in order to make the conversation understood by each other. That is
why, Grice offers to use the theory of cooperative principles to avoid
misunderstanding and misinterpretation between the speaker and the hearer. There are
four maxims, namely maxims of quality, quantity, manner, and relevance. Sometimes
people flout the maxims inevitably for some certain reasons. In this research, the
researcher focuses in conducting an analysis to find out the types of maxims that
flouted and discover the purpose behind the flouting of conversational maxims.
This research is using qualitative method, because the data is in the form of
description. The data are collected from reading conversation on the script or
dialogues. In this research, the researcher uses Grice’s maxim theory in analyzing
flouting maxims on the script of G.I Joe film. Data analysis of this study is
identifying the dialogues and classifying what types of Maxims are flouted on G.I Joe
film, and discover the purpose of Duke flouted the maxims.
The result of this study shows there are four types of maxims from the
cooperative principles flouted by Duke. They are flouting maxim of Quantity, maxim
of Quality, maxim of Relevance, and maxim of Manner. In his analysis, maxim of
Relevance is flouted the most by Duke as the main character of G.I.Joe film. Besides,
the researcher discover the purpose Duke flouting the maxims because he shows his
curiosity, disappointing by giving overstatement, giving irrelevant answer and giving
ambigious answer. The researcher suggests the readers especially the students of
English Department to learn more about the flouting of maxims because it functions
effectively in delivering communication.

Key word: Grice’s maxims, quantity, quality, relevance, manner, flouting.

The Advisor I The Writer,

Dr. Sudiran, M.Hum Denny Budikusuma

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INTRODUCTION

This chapter is devided into six parts, those are background of the problem,
statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and
limitation of the study and definition of key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Everybody needs language to communicate with other people because by
using language people can make a good communication and good relationship to each
other. Communication needs at least two participants or more to send information to
other people and in order to make the conversation understood by each other. The
participant needs to know how to use the language. Littlejohn (2009:13) argues that
people engaged in communication share common principle of communication leading
them to interpret each other utterances. Thus, communication is cooperative between
the speaker and the hearer. They share the same assumption and expectation about the
topic in case to develop their communication.
According to Grice in Journal of International Conference on Languages,
Literature and Linguistic (2011:122), the principle consists of four maxim: quality,
quantity, relevance and manner which represent how people are anticipated to
perform in conversation in general. In other words, the cooperative principle imposes
certain restriction on participants to adjust their speech in correspondence with the
maxims. If these maxims are used in conversation, it can go on smoothly. Language
may be used to socialize with each other in the conversation, which involves at least a
speaker and a hearer. They have to be cooperative and have contributions in order to
have a smooth conversations.
However, sometimes people flout the maxims inevitably for some certain
reasons; for instance, people sometimes answer a question by giving ambiguous
statement and saying something which is not related to the topic. Surely, they have
reasons of doing this. Moreover, speakers do not always abide the four maxims
mentioned above. In other words they often flout the maxims. Flouting the maxims
means that speakers violate the conversational maxims.
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In this study, the researcher would like to analyze the film script of “G.I.Joe”
film by exploring the flouting maxims which are focused on the conversation of the
main character of the film; he is Duke. The researcher is interested in using “G.I Joe”
film as the object of analysis because of the uniqueness of the utterances from this
film that contains many flouting maxims. The film script of G.I.Joe has many
conversation especially Duke. He speaks English fluently and should be capable to
obey the rule of conversation maxim. Many of Dukes conversation is still flouting in
their conversation although he is fluent in speaking English. Therefore, the researcher
is interested in analyzing on Duke’s flouting of conversational maxim on G.I Joe
film. The researcher expects that discussing about flouting conversation maxims can
give contribution toward linguistic study.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Related to the background of the problem, the researcher would like to
analyze the Conversational Maxims applied by Duke as main character on G.I.Joe
film. In this case, the researcher formulates the research question as follows:
1. What type of maxims is flouted by Duke on G.I.Joe film ?
2. Which maxims are flouted the most by the Duke on G.I.Joe film ?
3 What is the reason of Duke flouted conversational maxims on G.I.Joe film ?
1.3 The Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problem, the researcher wants to describe the
objective of the study as follows:
1 To figure out what type of maxims is flouted by Duke on G.I.Joe film.
2 To find out which conversational maxims is flouted the most by Duke on
G.I.Joe film.
3 Discover the reason of Duke flouted conversational maxims on G.I.Joe film.
1.4. The Significance of the Study
By identifying the flouting of conversational maxims which are found
in ‘G.I.Joe’ film, the researcher hopes by applying Grice’s conversational
maxims theory he can answer his curiosity about types of flouting the maxims
and why it is used
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of this study is discourse analysis particularly dealing with
conversational maxims. The researcher limits the discussion on analyzing
flouting conversational maxims used by main character on “G.I.Joe” film; he
is Duke.
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1.6 Definition of Key Term

In this study, the key terms are :
1 Discourse Analysis: examine paragraph structure, the organization of whole
texts, and typical patterns in conversational interactions, such as, the way
speakers open, close, and take turns in a conversation.
2 Flouting maxim: Unlike the violation of maxims, which take place to cause
misunderstanding on the part of the listener, the flouting of maxims takes
place individuals deliberately cease to apply the maxims to persuade their
listeners to infer the hidden meaning behind the utterances
3 Conversational Maxims: General principles to underline the efficient use of
language, and which together identify general cooperative principles. (Cook.
1989:29).
4 Cooperative principle
A way of accounting for how people interpret discourse, in order to uphold the
effectiveness and efficiency of communication. The principle is expressed in
terms of four maxims. This was formulated by the linguistic philosopher Paul
Grice.

6 G.I.Joe film: An American action film directed by Stephen Sommers in 2009

and it was released on August 07, 2009 (worldwide). An elite military unit
comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit,
takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher presents the discussion about the supporting

theories and previous study.

2.1 Film

Vassiliou (2006: 2) defines film as a sequence of photographs projected onto a

screen with sufficient rapidity as to create the illusion of motion and continuity or a
form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusion
of continuous movement.
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2.2 Genre of Film

Barsam (2010: 77) states that the term “genre” refers to the categorization of
narrative films by the stories they tell and the ways they tell them. films are
divided into several genres, as follow:
a. Action-Adventure
b. Comedy
c. Crime
d. Historical
e. Drama
f. Horror
g. Musical
h. Romance
2.3 Elements of Film
The elements of film are characters, plot, setting, conflict, point of view and
theme (Schmidt, Bogarad, and Crockett, 2006:1418). Here are the elements of
film if they are viewed from literary aspect:
2.3.1 Plot
2.3.2 Setting
2.3.3 Theme
2.3.4 Character
2.3.5 Characterization
2.3.6 Conflict
2.3.7 Point of View
2.4 Cooperative Principle and The Maxims
The successes of a conversation according to the philosopher H. P. Grice we
must assume that both people in a conversation are cooperating; this is called the
Cooperative Principle. Grice identified four principles which people implicitly rely on
when communicating. The conversational maxim also named Grice's maxims relating
to maxims of quality, quantity, relevance and manner (Grice, 1975:24).
1. Maxims of Quantity (say as much as helpful)
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- Make your contribution as informative as is required (don’t say it too

much),
- Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
2. Maxim of Quality (be as truthful as is required)
- Do not say what you believe to be false (don’t lie)
- Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence (don’t say things
which you can’t back up)
3. Maxim of Relevance
- Be relevant
4. Maxim of Manner
- Avoid obscurity of expression, avoid ambiguity, be brief (avoid
unnecessary prolixity), be orderly.
2.5 Flouting the Maxims
2.5.1 Flouting the Maxim of Quantity
Cook in his book ‘Discourse and Literature’ (1989: 31) argues that “The quantity
maxim is violated in both directions: creating prolixity if we say too much and
terseness if too brief.
2.5.2 Flouting the Maxim of Quality
A speaker flouts the maxim of quality when the speaker says something that
he believes to be false. In this case, speakers do no tell the truth or the information is
lack of evidence, and something the meaning is not literally true, which makes the
maxim of quality is flouted.
2.5.3 Flouting the Maxim of Relevance
“Sometimes people deliberately flout the charge to be relevance: to signal
embarrassment or to show a desire to change the subject” Cook (1989: 32).
2.5.4 Flouting the Maxim of Manner
A speaker flouts the maxim of manner if contribution is not perspicuous or not
easy to understand, the speaker give constribution not only to the expression of what
is said but also to the connection of what is said and it may be obscure, ambiguous
and disorderly.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher presents some aspects in connection with

research methodology which used to analyze the film. These aspects are research
design, object of study, data sources, data collection and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

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According to Ary (2010:32), research design is the researcher’s plan of how to

proceed to gain an understanding of some group or some phenomenon in its natural
setting. This study used descriptive qualitative research method because the data was
in the form of description and based on phenomenon. The researcher only focused on
analyzing the flouting maxims done by Duke as the main character on “G.I Joe” film,
and the data would be presented in words.
3.2 Object of study
The object of the study is the script of the film, which has the title “G.I Joe”.
This study focus on flouting maxims of the main character namely Duke. The
researcher choose Duke because as the main character Duke has more dominant
conversation than another character on the script so that he flouts certain maxims
much more than other character which is an important thing to be analyzed.
3.3 Data Collection
The data collection of this study follows the following steps:
1. Reading the dialogues on the scripts
In order to get the data, the researcher read the script 5 times to figure out the
dialogues which are flouting maxims occured especially in Duke’s conversation in
each of his dialogues.
2. Choosing or selecting the types of maxims that flouted done by Duke in the
dialogues of the script.
3.4 Data Analysis

After collecting the data, the researcher analyzes the data by using the
following steps:

Table 3. The procedures of the data analysis were as follows:

Steps Data Analysis

Describing the dialogues related with flouting conversation maxims and in
1 order to know the participant, what the topic, where the setting and the type of
maxims that flouted by Duke
Classifying the types of Maxims that flouted the most by Duke as the main
character on G.I.Joe film. The researcher classifies every utterance which
2
contains the flouting maxim, to shows types of maxims that flouted the most
that done by Duke as the main character.
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Describing the purpose of Duke flouts the Maxims. In this step, the researcher
3 describes the purpose Duke flouting the maxims theory such as maxim of
quality, quantity, relevance and manner.
Drawing conclusions based on the research result. The researcher makes the
4 drawing of the conclusion about the problems of this study which mentioned
in the first chapter.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter focuses on presenting the research findings on the basis of the
result data analysis. In other words, it presents the answer of the research problems.
The first problem is about the types of maxims that flouted by Duke. The second
problem related which maxims are flouting the most by Duke. The last is about the
reseason of Duke flouted conversational maxims. Besides, it also presents the
discussion based on Grice’s theory of cooperative principle to clarify the findings.

4.1 Research Findings

4.1.1 Kinds of Flouting Maxims done by Duke

1. Flouting Maxims of Quantity

Here is the summary of flouting maxim of quantity and it’s utterances are presented
in the table below ;

Kinds of Flouted Utterances

How To Flout
Maxim
Maxim of Quantity 1. By giving more
1. “I signed on to the deliver information
those warheads, General, and
despite your present
authorithy, I want to finish
the job”
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2. “we’re working on it.” 2.By giving

exaggerate answer

3. “you didn’t know. C’mon!” 3.By giving more

statement
2.Flouting Maxims of Quality

Here is the summary of flouting maxim of quality and it’s utterances are
presented in the table below;

Kinds of Flouted Utterances

How To Flout
Maxim
Maxim of Quality
1. “Those nano-mites will
1. By predicting
level the entire city!”
something

3.Flouting Maxims of Relevance

Here is the summary of flouting maxim of relevance and it’s utterances are
presented in the table below;

Kinds of Flouted Utterances

How To Flout
Maxim
Maxim of Relevance 1.By giving irrelevant answer
1.“You first”

2. “I jumped over it” 2. By giving irrelevant answer

3. “Each warhead had a kill switch” 3. By changing the topic

4. “Stay back!” 4. By changing the topic

5.”I said stay back!” 5.By changing the topic

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6”.All I know is that neither of you

6.By giving irrelevant answer
deserves her.”

4.Flouting Maxims of Manner

Here is the summary of flouting maxim of manner and it’s utterances are
presented in the table below;

Kinds of Flouted Utterances

How To Flout
Maxim
Maxim of Manner 1. “if I had to.” 1. By giving
ambigious answer
2. “I hope that vault is tight
2. By giving unbrief
because she always gets”
answer

4.1.2 The Maxims that Flouted the Most by Duke

Those dialogue reflected that Duke flouts all the types of maxims relating to
maxim of quantity, quality, relevance and manner. Based on the dialogue above, it can
be seen that maxim of relevance is flouted the most by Duke. He flouts maxim of
relevance seven times that shows in the first dialogue, second dialogue, fourth
dialogue, fifth dialogue and sixth dialogue.

4.1.3 The Reason of Duke Flouts Conversational Maxims

From all dialogue that shows by researcher above, there are some reasons
found. Duke flout maxim of quantity because he gives more information and
exaggerating the answer by saying ”I signed on to deliver those warheads,General”,
“we are working on it” and “you didn’t know,C’mon”. Maxim of quality flout in the
fifth dialogue. Duke flout maxim of quality because he does not response properly by
saying ”those nano-mites will level the entire city” when he is going to switch off the
warhead in Eiffel Tower. Duke flout maxim of relevance by saying “you first” and
“each warhead had a skill switch” because he try to gives irrelevant answer and
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changing the topic when Duke talks about the status of the team in mountain road.
Maxim of Manner flout by Duke because he gives ambiguous answer by saying “if I
had to” and “I hope that vault is tight because she always gets” in the second
dialogue. Duke flouts the maxim of manner since it is not clearly stated, what he
means, it creates an ambiguity without knowing the context.

4.2 Discussion

a) Flouting maxim of quantity

Duke as the speaker in this case gives more explanation to Ripcord’s question.
Actually, the information or the answer must be “Yes, I do” or just say “yeah” without
adding the information “you didn’t know. C’mon!” to the Ripcord because the answer
“yeah” is required to Ripcord’s question. So the information became more
informative than is required.

b) Flouting maxim of quality

Duke flouts maxim of quality since he does not response properly by

saying”Those nano-mites will level the entire city!”, he explains that nano-mite will
invade to the cities, in fact he should explain about finding out the kill switch in order
nano-mite does not invade to the cities.

c) Flouting maxim of relevance

Based on all flouting maxims of relevance data above, the conversations or

utterances used the flouting maxims of relevance when the participants make the
conversation unmatched and changing the topic of the questioner to avoid the
question and giving irrelevant answer. Duke flouts maxim of Relevance because he
avoids McCullen’s question and changes the topic instead of answer it correctly.

d) Flouting maxim of manner

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The maxims of manner are flouted when the information caused the obscurity
of expression and it is ambiguous. Duke flouts maxim of Manner by saying “if I had
to” because he gives an ambigious response between yes or no to kill the unidentified
girl, he feels doubt to ensure the answer between yes or no.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion

On the basis of findings at the previous chapter, it could be concluded that

there are four types of maxims from the cooperative principles flouted by Duke as the
main character. They are flouting maxim of Quantity, maxim of Quality, maxim of
Relevance, and maxim of Manner. In his analysis, the researcher finds that maxim of
Quantity is flouted 3 times, maxim of Quality is only flouted once, maxim of
Relevance is flouted 7 times, and maxim of Manner is flouted 2 times, so it could be
concluded that maxim of Relevance is flouted the most by Duke as the main character
of G.I.Joe film. The researcher also concludes the reasons Duke flout the maxims.
First is from the maxim of Quantity because he gives information more than what is.
Second is from the maxim of Quality flouted by predicting something. Next is from
the maxim of Relevance flouted by giving irrelevant answer, changing the topic, not
greeting back, giving incorrect answer. The last is the maxim of Manner flouted by
giving unclear utterance, not giving brief answer, and giving ambigious answer.

5.2 Suggestions

5.2.1 For the Lectures

To the Lectures, it is suggested that they can use Grice theory relating to
conversational maxims, to teach for the students about the successes conversation.

5.2.2 For English Department Students

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The result of this study is expected to give contribution in understanding the

theory of Grice’s maxims especially about floating maxims. Furthermore, it can
improve the skill in English language.

5.2.3 For Futher Researcher

The researcher suggests to the next researchers can use Grice’s maxims theory
to conduct the research in different scope, limitation and the other areas.