Cooperative Principle in Political Interviews

This study aimed to determine whether the maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and manner, which comprise the cooperative principle, were observed by the five key contenders in the 2022 presidential elections in the Philippines. This study employed descriptive research as its design and pragmatic analysis as its method of investigating the observance of the cooperative principle in political interviews. The transcribed interview responses of the politicians constituted the data of this study. Frequency, percentage, and rank were used to determine which maxims were frequently observed, flouted, infringed, suspended, violated, and opted out. The results reveal that the frequently observed maxim was relevance, while the flouted maxim was quantity. No maxim was infringed, suspended, violated, or opted out by the presidential candidates. This study concludes that the politicians attempted to give pertinent information but needed to provide the exact amount of information during the interviews. This could mean that the information could have been more general or that specific data for comprehensive understanding may have been omitted, purposefully or unintentionally, leading to an incomplete picture.