Communicative implications in White Barde Sun based on Grice’s Maxims

Communicative implication is considered as one of the most important concepts and points of view in linguistic studies. Pole Grice is one of the most prominent theorists, whose communicative maxims are based on the principle of coordination. According to this theory, interlocutors are required to follow different maxims in their speech. Conversation should revolve around 4 main maxims: maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of occasion, and maxim of approach. The absence of every single one in conversation would disrupt the flow of conversation and transmission of speaker’s words from explicit meaning to implicit meaning based on position or status, the implication of which can be analyzed based on Grice’s model. The objective of this article is to examine communicative implications in White Barde Sun. It finds that characters (interlocutors) in the novel break the rules of communicative implication of Grice and accordingly, pay more attention to implicit meaning. It is contended that maxims of quantity, quality, location, and method (approach) are deviated in conversations to showcase the protagonist’s mistakes.