“Is the Other Guy Still There?”: Inferences and Flouting of Maxims in Emergency Calls to Police

Emergency calls to the police stand as crucial lifelines during crises and are particularly salient within domestic violence contexts. While previous studies predominantly examine direct request formulations in emergency calls, a notable exception is found in Stokoe and Richardson’s (2023) work, which examines victims' indirect requests through Conversation Analysis. This study, however, advances their focus by examining indirect communication in United States domestic violence-related emergency calls, employing the Cooperative Principle and Inferences as analytical tools. Through an analysis of two extended 911 calls involving domestic violence incidents, the study reveals a strategic shift from conventional direct requests to indirect communication strategies, showing flouting of conversational maxims as the linguistic strategy used by callers to make indirect requests. The study also reveals that call takers employ selective inferences as a linguistic mechanism to decode and respond to hidden urgencies manifested in the callers’ indirect requests. Through inferences, the analysis shows how call takers leverage their schematic knowledge to address a life-and-death issue. The synergy of these linguistic strategies, therefore, underscores their importance in high-stakes communication situations. Beyond academia, the study contributes to public awareness of indirect communication challenges during emergencies and informs targeted call-taker training programmes by enhancing their ability to recognise and respond effectively to indirect requests in domestic violence emergencies.