18
The example of
the
off record
strategy
is
when you want to ask about the
name of a
website to your friend by saying
“I wonder what the name of the website for
this
assignment is”. Actually, Brown and Levinson (1978) elaborated the off record
strategies as following:
No.
Off Record Strategy
Example
Invite Conversational
Implicatures
1.
Give hints
It’s cold in here. (c.i. Shut the window)
2.
Give association clues
Are you going to market tomorrow? … There’s a market
tomorrow, I suppose. (c.i. Give me a ride there)
3.
Presuppose
I washed the car again today (He presupposes that he has
done it before (e.g. last week) and therefore may implicate a
criticism).
4.
Understate
A: What do you think of Harry?
B: Nothing wrong with him. (c.i. I don’t particularly like it)
5.
Overstate
I tried to call a hundred times, but there was never any
answer.
6.
Use tautologies
Your clothes belong where your clothes belong, my clothes
belong where my clothes belong. Look upstairs!
7.
Use contradictions
A: Are you upset about that?
B: Well, yes and no.
8.
Be ironic
John’s a real genius. (after John has just done twenty stupid
things in a row)
9.
Use metaphors
Harry’s a real fish. (c.i. He drinks/swims/is slimmy/is cold-
blooded like a fish)
10.
Use rhetorical questions
What can I say? (c.i. Nothing, it’s so bad)
Be Vague or Ambigous:
Violate the Manner Maxim
11.
Be ambiguous
John’s a pretty sharp/smooth cookie.
12.
Be vague
Looks like someone may have had too much to drink. (vague
understatement)
13.
Over-generalize
The lawn has got to be mown.
14.
Displace H
When a secretary asks another to pass the stapler, in
 |