1. Cooperative Principle (Grice): 

H. P. Grice proposes that ordinary conversation is guided by a general assumption of cooperation. The Cooperative Principle (CP) is:

“Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”

The CP does not mean speakers are always polite or truthful; it means hearers typically interpret utterances on the assumption that they are rational and purpose-directed, unless there is evidence otherwise.

The cooperative principle: Sometimes people happen to express things which, from a purely logical perspective, have no communicative value: “business is business”,  and other pointless expressions are labeled tautologies. when used in a conversation, the speaker clearly intends to communicate more than is said. But, when a listener hears such expressions, he or she has to assume that the speaker is being cooperative and intends to communicate something.

Why the Cooperative Principle matters in pragmatics

Grice’s CP explains how hearers routinely derive unstated meanings from what is said by assuming:

  • speakers are being appropriately informative,

  • truthful (within normal limits),

  • relevant,

  • and clear.

This is foundational for understanding:

  • indirect requests (“Can you open the window?”),

  • scalar implicatures (“some” → “not all”),

  • irony, understatement, and strategic ambiguity,

  • efficient conversation with minimal explicit wording.