Theory:
Logic of Conversation
Grice's Logic of Conversation states that there will always
be a relevance for the second part of the adjacency pair. This is linked to one
of Grice's Maximums: 'The Maximum of Relevance'. He saw that there were four
Maximums: Relevance, Quality, Quantity and Manner.
He had many insights about 'The Logic of Conversation' which
has explained the reasons behind why we use the language we do in conversation.
He said that communication is a cooperative activity. When two people
communicate, it's in their best interests to make the communication to go as
smoothly as possible to achieve their aims. The speakers behave in a predictable way.
However, sometimes there is a broken adjacency pair which is
called a non-sequitur. This means that a piece of speech doesn't relate to what
has just been said.
Example:
Lily: "This bottle's half empty!"
Jack: "Gosh-is that the time already?"
This adjacency pair doesn't initially seem like the pair are
relevant at all. 'Lily' talks about the bottle then Jack 'randomly' says about
the time. After you examine it you then see that it could be linked. For
example after she made that comment he realises that he wants to go home.
A nicely developed explanation. Check maxims not maximums. You need to go a bit further to explore tentatively what it was in what Lily said that might have made Jack realise he wanted to leave.
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