u08a3 Application questions

Barbrie_u08a3

Application questions:

Conversation #1, the miscommunication occurs in the response by Mrs. Rashid, “There are many lovely people in the neighborhood.” In this response we see a violation of Grice’s Maxim of Relevance. Mrs. Thomas will most likely think that Mrs. Rashid is indeed not happy with the school district since she is thinking that avoided answering the question directly, and changed the topic to talk about the neighborhood. However Mrs., Rashid misunderstood the word district to mean area of town where the school is located, and to her, she answered the question perfectly.

Explaination of the cultural factors that contribute to the miscommunication in the conversation:

I chose Conversation # 1. I believe that Mrs. Rashid was not a native English speaker and when Mrs. Thomas asked, “Are you happy with the school district?”Mrs. Rashid misunderstood the word “district” to mean the area of town where the school was located instead of the intended meaning by Mrs. Thomas: The school system.