A Study of conversational maxims in radio advertisements

Arifin, Vinawati (2000) A Study of conversational maxims in radio advertisements. Bachelor thesis, Petra Christian University.

Abstract

Since radio advertisements only rely on language to advertise, they are very interesting to be analysed. In this thesis the writer wanted to find out the kind of maxims which are the most followed and flouted in the onversational radio advertisements. Thus, she chose 15 conversational radio advertisements broadcasted by various radio stations, and analysed them based on Grice's conversational principle with its maxims. There are four maxims, but the writer only used three of them: maxim of quantity, maxim of relevance and maxim of manner, excluding maxim of quality since she could not determine whether the speakers of the advertisements speak truthfully, or lie. After analysing, the writer found out that maxim of quantity was the most flouted and maxim of relevance was the most followed, while maxim of manner was flouted several times. She also found out that the flouting of maxim of quantity in the conversation is used as one of the strategies to inform the product to the listeners. Moreover, by flouting the maxim of manner, except `be brief', it made the advertisement sounds different and more creative than others. From the findings, the writer concluded that the participants in the conversational radio advertisements obviously violated the conversational maxims on purpose, that is to achieve advertising goals.

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