An Analysis of Conversational Implicature in Jane Eyre from the Perspective of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle_英语论文

摘要

《简·爱》是英国女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特具有自传色彩的经典长篇名作。自1847年出版以来，人们对《简·爱》的研究从未停止。本文主要从合作原则和礼貌原则的角度分析《简·爱》的会话含义，从而达到分析简爱人物性格的目的。

本文以合作原则和礼貌原则为理论框架。Grice提出了合作原则，其中包含四个准则：质准则、量准则、相关准则和方式准则。当人们不遵循合作原则时，话语便会产生表面含义之外的会话含义。而Leech提出的礼貌原则则弥补了人们违反合作原则的原因。

本文主要解决三个问题：1）在简·爱与他人的对话中，是否存在违反合作原则的现象？是否有遵循礼貌原则？2）在违反或遵循合作原则和礼貌原则的情况下，具体分析简·爱如何违反质、量、关系和方式准则，从而在简·爱与他人的对话中产生了怎样的会话含义？3）通过其中会话含义，可看出简·爱拥有怎样的性格？

本文选取数段简·爱与他人的对话分析会话含义，发现简·爱违反最多的是量准则，这表明简·爱在与他人的对话中会巧妙地回答问题。从研究中探析到简·爱具有自尊自强而又独立的性格。同时因幼时的受压迫，简·爱性格中也有反叛的一面。

本文从合作原则和礼貌原则的角度出发，希望能有助于其他研究者更好的理解《简爱》这世界经典名作。

关键词：简爱  合作原则  礼貌原则  会话含义

Abstract

Jane Eyre is an autobiographical and classic work by Charlotte Brontë, an British female writer. Since published in 1847, people have never stopped studying Jane Eyre. This thesis mainly analyzes the conversational implicature in Jane Eyre from the perspective of cooperative principle and politeness principle in order to analyze the character of Jane Eyre.

 The cooperative principle and politeness principle are taken as theoretical framework in this thesis. Grice put forward the cooperative principle or CP that includes four maxims: the maxim of quality, quantity, relevance and clarity. When people violate the CP, the utterance may produce conversational implicature that different from the surface meaning. After that, Leech put forward the politeness principle or PP to make up for reason why people violate the CP.

This thesis mainly solves three problems: 1) Is there any violation of the CP in Jane Eyre's dialogues with others? And do they follow the PP? 2) Analyze how Jane Eyre violates the maxim of quality, quantity, relevance and clarity under the circumstances of violating or following the CP and PP. What kind of conversational implicature is produced in Jane Eyre's conversation with others? (3) Through analyzing conversational implicature, what personality does Jane Eyre possess?

This paper analyzes the conversational implicature between Jane Eyre and others, and finds that Jane Eyre violates the maxim of quantity most frequently, which indicates that Jane Eyre answer the questions skillfully in the conversation with others. From the research, people can find that Jane Eyre has self-respecting and independent personality. At the same time, because of the oppression of childhood, Jane Eyre also has a rebellious side.

It hope that this thesis will help another researchers better and fuller to understand this world classic masterpiece from the perspective of CP and PP.

Key words: Jane Eyre  cooperative principle  politeness principle conversational implicature

Contents

Chapter One   Introduction. 1

1.1 Purpose of This Thesis 1

1.2 Significance of This Thesis1

1.3 Structure of This Thesis 2

1.4 Research Method2

Chapter Two   Literature Review. 4

2.1 Introduction. 4

2.2 Reviews of Studies on Cooperative Principle Abroad 4

2.3 Reviews of Studies on Cooperative Principle at Home.5

2.4 Reviews of Studies on Jane Eyre Abroad and Home.6 

Chapter Three   Theotretical Framework.9

3.1 Introduction9

3.2 Cooperative Principle.9

3.3 Four Maxims of Cooperative Principle9

3.4 Conversational Implicature10

3.5 Politeness Principle11

Chapter Four   Analysis of Conversational Implicature in Jane Eyre.13

4.1 Introduction13

4.2 A Brief Introduciton in Jane Eyre13

4.3 Study of The Conversational Implicautre Betweeen Jane Eyre and Mrs. Reed14

4.4 Study of The Conversational Implicautre When Jane Eyre and Rochester First  

Meet16

4.5 Study of The Conversational Implicautre When Jane Eyre Discover Rochester's Mad Wife18

4.6 Study of The Conversational Implicautre When Jane Eyre and Rochester Reunion19

4.7 Summary21

Chapter Five  Conclusion23

5.1 Introduction23

5.2 Findings of The Thesis 23

5.3 Limitations of The Thesis .23

5.4 Recommendations of The Future Study.24

Bibliography

Acknowledgements