Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: Pragmatic failure, as a form of unsuccessful communication, has been investigated by many scholars. Previous studies approached this issue from different perspectives and laid a solid foundation for further research. In this thesis, the author tries to make a systematical study of the nature and cause of pragmatic failure from interdisciplinary perspectives. With Cooperative Principle (CP), Relevance Theory (RT) and Adaptation Theory (AT) as its theoretical framework, the thesis analyzes the cause of pragmatic failure by listing empirical evidences to illustrate the explaining force. Moreover, it is on the basis of a comprehensive framework, Cooperation-Relevance-Adaptation Model, to account for successful communication. However, for CP and AT overlap with one another, it can be just to construct AT-RT model to analyze pragmatic failure. Therefore, the importance of pragmatic information is self-evident. In order to avoid pragmatic failure, learners’ dictionaries, especially bilingual ones, need to provide users with pragmatic information to facilitate their pragmatic competence.

Key words: pragmatic failure; Cooperative Principle; Relevance Theory; Adaptation Theory; Multi-theory Models

摘要：语用失误一直为许多学者所关注。他们从不同的角度作了大量的研究，为进一步的探讨奠定了基础。本文试图从多学科视角对语用失误的本质与原因进行系统性研究。首先，分别以合作原则、关联理论、顺应理论为理论框架，通过列举大量实例分析语用失误产生原因。然后，采用合作-关联-顺应的多理论模式进行全面探讨。之后基于合作原则与顺应理论的相重合性，将原模式精简为顺应-关联模式。由此可见，语用信息的重要性不言而喻。为避免语用失误发生，建议在双语词典中补充更多的语用信息以提高学习者的语用能力。

关键词：语用失误；合作原则；关联理论；顺应理论；多理论模式
 
1. Introduction
The main impetus for this study began to take shape when I worked as a part-time English teacher. I noticed that students often use “Never mind” as a response to “Thank you”. The students have learned English for several years but cannot cope with English in its communicative use. The phenomenon is known as pragmatic failure, first proposed by Jenny Thomas in 1983. Later, domestic and foreign linguists have investigated this issue from different perspectives. For instance, from the perspective of cross-cultural communication, cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching, etc. Their achievements have made a lot of contributions to this field. Yet there are still some limitations and drawbacks left. That is, every study is restricted to only one aspect of pragmatic failure. Therefore, the article is intended to investigate the cause of pragmatic failure by three representative theories--Cooperative Principle (CP), Relevance Theory (RT), Adaptation Theory (AT), and then try to focus attention on Liao Qiaoyun’s Cooperation-Relevance-Adaptation Model (C-R-A Model in short). Liao’s model can be almost considered comprehensive or all-encompassing, yet it has overlooked the interwoven possibility and feasibility between AT and CP. Hence, in this article, a new model for pragmatic failure is constructed.