CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE IN AGATHA CHRISTIE'S INTERROGATION DIALOGUES

This paper investigates conversational implicature as a key linguopragmatic mechanism in the interrogation dialogues of Agatha Christie's detective fiction. The study analyzes how suspects and witnesses generate implied meaning to conceal information by flouting or violating the Cooperative Principle and four conversational maxims – Quality, Quantity, Relation and Manner as proposed by H.P.Grice. The findings show that the maxims of Quantity and Manner are frequently flouted to conceal information, yet the implicatures generated are skillfully detected by Poirot. The study contributes to literary pragmatics by demonstrating that detective fiction is a rich site for pragmatic analysis.