Clyne's Revision of Grice's Maxims
Grice’s Maxims have been criticised for being too Anglo-centric. Michael Clyne proposes revisions to the four maxims in his 1994 book Intercultural Communication at Work. Do Clyne’s revisions of this model go far enough in universally accounting for intercultural conversation? Why or why not?
Grice’s General Cooperative Principle has been under continuous debate for the past three decades. It is mainly through the maxims that Grice’s paradigm has been challenged as highly ethnocentric, however such readings may tend to take the maxims too literally rather than as “reference points for language interchange” (Allan as cited in Clyne, 1994, p. 11). There is some agreement in this, but as suggested by Mey (1994, p. 74), the principle and maxims are "always defined relative to a particular culture". It is this idea of cultural values underlying communication that has caused the contention of Grice’s cooperative principle and its subordinate maxims. Many linguists (Keenan, 1976; Wierzbicka, 1985; Clyne, 1994; Bowe & Martin, 2007) have criticised Grice’s Maxims for being too ethnocentric – claiming that its assumptions are based on Anglo-Saxon norms and culture. This Anglo-centric nature is problematic for intercultural communication as the maxims are inapplicable to many cultural values systems; namely European and Southeast Asian cultures where harmony, respect and restraint play a key role (Clyne, 1994, p. 192). In an attempt to better reflect intercultural conversation, Clyne (1994) has proposed a set of revised ‘maxims’ to make Grice’s principles more universal. His revision of Grice’s model certainly accounts for a wider variety of contexts and cultures, however it cannot be said to universally account for intercultural conversation. As conversation is unique to its context and participants, in reality no single theory could universally embody real life language use. Although people of all backgrounds generally do attempt to facilitate successful communication
Grice’s General Cooperative Principle has been under continuous debate for the past three decades. It is mainly through the maxims that Grice’s paradigm has been challenged as highly ethnocentric, however such readings may tend to take the maxims too literally rather than as “reference points for language interchange” (Allan as cited in Clyne, 1994, p. 11). There is some agreement in this, but as suggested by Mey (1994, p. 74), the principle and maxims are "always defined relative to a particular culture". It is this idea of cultural values underlying communication that has caused the contention of Grice’s cooperative principle and its subordinate maxims. Many linguists (Keenan, 1976; Wierzbicka, 1985; Clyne, 1994; Bowe & Martin, 2007) have criticised Grice’s Maxims for being too ethnocentric – claiming that its assumptions are based on Anglo-Saxon norms and culture. This Anglo-centric nature is problematic for intercultural communication as the maxims are inapplicable to many cultural values systems; namely European and Southeast Asian cultures where harmony, respect and restraint play a key role (Clyne, 1994, p. 192). In an attempt to better reflect intercultural conversation, Clyne (1994) has proposed a set of revised ‘maxims’ to make Grice’s principles more universal. His revision of Grice’s model certainly accounts for a wider variety of contexts and cultures, however it cannot be said to universally account for intercultural conversation. As conversation is unique to its context and participants, in reality no single theory could universally embody real life language use. Although people of all backgrounds generally do attempt to facilitate successful communication
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