The Observance of Gricean Conversational Maxims by Tanzanian Politicians in T.V. Hosted Interviews

This study aimed at appraising the observance of Gricean maxims by Tanzanian politicians in T.V. hosted interviews. The study adopted Grice (1975) cooperative principle in finding out politicians’ observance of the Gricean quality and quantity maxims.The interviews are from EATV ‘Mkasi’ session and involved Honorable Mwigulu Nchemba from CCM and Hon. Zitto Kabwe from CHADEMA and only their verbal responses were subjected to analysis. Content analysis for data collection was used and the study involved a case study design. The study findings show that politicians did not adhere to these conversational maxims as they responded to questions employing different forms of non-observances include flouting and opting out of maxims as well as maxim clash. These non-observances were meant to persuade the viewers and gain social and political credibility, achieving politeness, imposing and suppressing/avoid any face-threatening, and building the speakers’ positive images and that of their parties. However, the inferences drawn from the findings were the two politicians like other members of public service did not often observe the maxims, meaning that they intentionally chose to be non-literal and opted for indirect communication, even in their non-observances of the maxims they remained communicative in a richer and profound way than if they were literal and direct.