Presentation of Public Speeches in the Framework of Gricean Maxims: A Case Study of Kakamega County

Abstract

Public speaking has continually become authentic without which communication can take place among the people of any society, and therefore there is a need to scrutinize whether or not they conform to Gricean maxims or violate them. Grice's principle of 1975 gives the conventions by which a successful speech can be uttered. The key objective of the study is to analyse the type of speeches that conform to Gricean maxims and the maxim which is susceptible to violation. The types of speeches include persuasive, informative, and ritualistic. Descriptive research design was adopted and the target population was people of Kakamega County. Convenience sampling technique was applied to gather the speeches from the church, funerals, marriage ceremonies, learning institutions, media platforms, graduation ceremonies, and seminars. Secondary sources of data include speeches from the president and the governor. The research instruments included audio-tape recording, oral interview and observation until saturation stage was attained. Data was analysed in the table and textual form. It was found that ritualistic speeches flouted the maxim of quantity and manner. Persuasive speeches mostly violated three maxims. Most of the informative speeches conformed to all maxims. It therefore, recommends that ritualistic speeches are specific and mostly written and should not take more than 5 minutes. Persuasive speeches mostly flout the maxim of quality, quantity, and manner because some are informal and figurative. Informative speeches are formal and time-bound, therefore, conform to the maxims. Since Gricean principles could not account for political speeches, relevance theory was applicable to cover the deficit.