Flouting Maxim sebagai Tanda Perlawanan pada Novel Woman At Point Zero: Kajian Pragmatik Grice

Abstract

This study examines the violations of Grice’s cooperative principles in the novel Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi. The research employs a pragmatic approach and a text-based qualitative descriptive method. Dialogues in the novel are used as the primary data to identify violations of the maxims of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner, as well as to analyze the implicatures generated through the characters’ utterances. The findings reveal that the violations of conversational maxims are not merely incidental, but function as communicative strategies closely related to the female characters’ experiences within a patriarchal social structure. The utterances that violate the cooperative principles reflect the characters’ attempts to conceal trauma, express rejection indirectly, maintain self-worth, and criticize unequal power relations. In addition, these maxim violations represent the psychological pressure and limited space for expression experienced by women in society. Therefore, language in the novel functions not only as a medium for storytelling, but also as a symbolic tool for conveying resistance, personal experiences, and social criticism toward gender inequality. The study further demonstrates that pragmatic analysis, particularly through implicature and maxim violations, can help uncover deeper meanings in literary works by connecting language, social context, and the lived experiences of the characters.