According to the Cooperative Principle, what would we expect an adult discourse participant to generally do if another discourse participant appears to be violating a maxim?

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When analyzing the Cooperative Principle in adult discourse, we look at how listeners respond to apparent violations of maxims.
Option 1 suggests getting really confused and leaving the conversation. While genuine misunderstandings can occur, the principle predicts that participants endeavor to maintain cooperation rather than abruptly exiting; retreating from the conversation isn’t the typical, expected reaction to a perceived maxim violation.
Option 2 states: 'Try to make sense of the other discourse participant's utterance as something that actually does conform to the maxims.' This aligns with Gricean theory: listeners assume cooperative intent and work to reconstruct the speaker's meaning, often reading the utterance as conforming to the maxims even if it superficially seems off, by inferring intended implicatures.
Option 3 claims: 'Accuse the other discourse participant of being uncooperative.' Although accusations could occur in tense interactions, the standard expectation under the Cooperative Principle is not to label the partner as uncooperative but to seek clarification or explanation by reinterpreting the utterance.
Thus, evaluating each option against the Cooperative Principle, the second option most accurately reflects the expected adult participant behavior: attempting to interpret the utterance as conforming to the maxims, and thereby uncovering intended meaning rather than abandoning the conversation or accusing the speaker.

LIN102H5 S All Sections PRE11

According to the Cooperative Principle, what would we expect an adult discourse participant to generally do if another discourse participant appears to be violating a maxim?

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