The Study of Nonsense Characters and Nonsense Style Based on Grice's Rules (Case Study: J. D. Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish)

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Volume 57, Issue 3, November 2024, Pages 69-85   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.2025.85746.1235

Authors

Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh^* ; Farid Mashhadi

Department of English, Ferdowsi University of mashhad, Mashhad Iran

Abstract

One of the features in nonsense style is the related character which can be studied from different angles. One of the stylistic areas in which nonsense characters have received less attention is the aspect of how they interact with Grice’s rules for linguistic cooperation or cooperative principles. Then, one should examine how the character of that work interacts with Grice’s rules: does he always deal with these rules in a fixed way or in a variable way? The result can lead to a better understanding of the character(s) of the nonsense style, which in turn will bring us closer to the definition of what some thinkers consider undefinable for this style. The present research first shows how J. D. Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish belongs to the nonsense genre, and then proves that the relationship between nonsense characters and the Gricean maxims are variable and complex.

Keywords

Nonsense style; Gricean maxims; Characters of the nonsense style; A Perfect Day for Bananafish

Full Text

 

References