The Multiple Violations of Conversational Maxims in Lying Done by the Characters in Some Episodes of Desperate Housewives

Abstract

The study on the characters' multiple violations in Desperate Housewives film shows that in violating the maxims, each person has his own reason specifically in lying. Using Grice's Cooperative Principle and Christoffersen's criteria of lying, the findings revealed that violating all maxims was meant to eliminate the interlocutor's chance to respond, violating three maxims was to cover the truth and violating two maxims was to create another lie in the future.