Maxim Flouting in Child Discourse: A Developmental and Relevance-Theoretic Analysis of Naturalistic Interaction

This study examines maxim flouting in naturally occurring child discourse and explores how apparent departures from conversational norms remain meaningful in interaction. Guided by Grice’s Cooperative Principle and Relevance Theory, it adopts a qualitative discourse-analytic approach to 13 hours of recorded interactions involving 50 children aged 5–13 in classroom, playground, and youth fellowship settings in Nsukka Metropolis. The analysis identified 58 instances of maxim flouting, classified according to Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. Findings reveal developmental differences in pragmatic behaviour. Younger children mainly flouted Quantity through over-elaboration, while children in middle childhood increasingly manipulated topics through Relation flouting. Early adolescents demonstrated more sophisticated Quality flouting, particularly through irony and hyperbole. Context also shaped the pragmatic strategies employed. Rather than causing communicative breakdown, maxim flouting enabled children to convey meanings through shared assumptions and inference. The study highlights the value of combining Grice’s taxonomy with Relevance Theory to explain pragmatic development.