American Research Journal of English and Literature

Pragmatic theories are either classical (e.g. those of Austin 1962, Searle 1969, Bach and Harnish 1979) or contemporary (e.g. those of Adegbija 1982 and Mey 2000). The contributions of Hubert Paul Grice to the literature of pragmatics remain epoch-making. This explains why most contemporary pragmatic theories make reference to Grice‟s Cooperative Principle of Conversation; hence, they are said to be neo-Gricean. In this paper, we investigate, locate and situate the place of Grice‟s pragmatic theories via a critique which hinges on the Pragma-crafting Theory. Conclusively, a major finding of this paper is that Grice‟s Cooperative Principle is indeed, not an attempt to legislate “what” and “how” human interaction should operate, but an attempt to elucidate “what” makes human interactions violate the basic principles of natural communication and “how” such violations produce meanings that can always be calculated or worked out.