VIOLATION OF GRICE'S MAXIM OF COOPERATION IN STAND-UP COMEDY HUMOR

Abstract

Stand-up comedians use violations of the same cooperative maxim to create humor. The comedians in this study, namely Arie Kriting, Ridwan Remin, Wira Nagara, and Babe Cabita, use violations in their performances. The urgency of this research is the need to understand the principles of language and communication, especially Grice's cooperative maxim, which is regularly applied by comedians but is effective in creating humor that is relevant to the social culture of Indonesian society. The purpose of this study is to identify, describe, and analyze violations of four Gricean maxims—quantity, quality, relevance, and implementation—and to analyze the role of violations in their humor. A qualitative approach with descriptive analysis was used. Data in the form of video broadcasts uploaded to YouTube were then transcribed and analyzed using heuristic techniques. The analysis process included identifying setups and punchlines, transforming each violation of Grice's principle, and interpreting the humorous purpose hidden behind the violation. The result is equality in principle violations. Each performance described embodies each of these principles in a different way and with very distinctive characteristics. The dominant violations are violations of the maxim of quality and the principle of relevance, by making explicit claims that are misleading, or constructing a series of statements that are implausible.