Ideological Implicatures through Conversational Breakdown in Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter: A Pragmatic Study

الملخص

Summary:

This study examines the construction of ideological implicatures in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter by using a systematic framework of Gricean Pragmatics. As stated by Fairclough (1995) and Van Dijk (2006), ideology within critical discourse analysis functions not merely as a structure of beliefs, but also as a discursive mechanism in which power structures, dominance, and societal control are institutionalised, perpetuated, and    legitimized. According to the study of language in literature, ideology is repeatedly expressed indirectly through vagueness, silence, interruption, and disruption of communication instead of direct ideological utterances. The study aims to explore how violations of the Cooperative Principle of Grice contribute to the construction of ideological implicatures concerning power, authority, silence, uncertainty, and power relations in Pinter’s play. The study employs a qualitative interpretative approach. The data consists of the selected dialogues from The Dumb Waiter that represent ambiguity,  silence, uncertainty, and fragmented conversation. The findings revealed that the selected extracts are characterized by disrupted conversational exchanges in which violations of the maxims of Relation, Quantity, and Manner generate implicatures beyond the literal meaning of utterances. These implicatures expose hidden power relations and organizational control between the interlocutors. The analysis also demonstrated that ideology is conveyed indirectly through ambiguity, silence, and indirect responses, which function as discursive mechanisms for regulating information and maintaining social hierarchy. Consequently, power is exercised through implicit interactional practices rather than explicit assertions of authority. The results demonstrate that these implicatures reveal implicit power relations and underlying structures of control operating between the interlocutors. Moreover, discursive features such as silence, indirect responses, ambiguity, and the avoidance of explicit statements function as strategic resources for regulating the flow of information, shaping social relations, and reinforcing hierarchical power structures. Through these subtle linguistic and pragmatic choices, ideology is constructed and communicated implicitly rather than through direct expression.