M. A. I english P. C3 & C6 Modern Linguistics title pmd

4. 
The Modesty Maxim 
The Modesty maxim states: 'Minimize the expression of praise of self; 
maximize the expression of dispraise of self.' 
a) 
Oh, I'm so stupid - I didn't make a note of our lecture! Did you? 

---

112 
5. 
The Agreement maxim 
The Agreement maxim runs as follows: 'Minimize the expression of 
disagreement between self and other; maximize the expression of agreement 
between self and other.' It is in line with Brown and Levinson's positive politeness 
strategies of 'seeking agreement' and 'avoiding disagreement,' to which they attach 
great importance. However, it is not being claimed that people totally avoid 
disagreement. It is simply observed that they are much more direct in expressing 
agreement, rather than disagreement. 
a) 
A: I don't want my daughter to do this, I want her to do that. 
b) 
B: Yes, but ma'am, I thought we resolved this already on your last visit. 
6. 
The Sympathy maxim 
The sympathy maxim states: 'minimize antipathy between self and other; 
maximize sympathy between self and other.' This includes a small group of speech 
acts such as congratulation, commiseration, and expressing condolences - all of 
which is in accordance with Brown and Levinson's positive politeness strategy of 
attending to the hearer's interests, wants, and needs. 
a) 
I was sorry to hear about your father. 
Sperber and Wilson (1986) replaced Grice’s Cooperative principle and 
maxims by a single Principle of Relevance.
6.3
Trade-off Relationship between the Politeness and Cooperative
 
Principle
The Politeness and the Cooperative Principles play a very significant role in 
conversations. However, while observing one principle, often, the other is violated. 
For example, the quality maxim (cooperative principle) demands that one should be 
truthful. But if you are always truthful, you may invite troubles for yourself. Therefore, 
white lies are politely used to save one’s face, property, honor and so on. Similarly, 
by being cooperative one often violates the politeness principle. This is called the 

---

113 
trade-off relationship between politeness and cooperativeness. In being polite, one 
exploits the PP in order to uphold the CP. A person who is being ironic actually 
deceives or misleads the hearer, in an honest form of apparent deception, at the 
expense of politeness for e.g. 
A: I have lost your pen somewhere. 
B: Oh, so nice of you! That’s what can be expected of you!