Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the conversational implicature of the reported speech appearing in news discourses.This paper brings in the theories of Conversational Implicature and the four maxims of Cooperative Principle to analyze the reported speech in news discourses. Focusing mainly on the two news reports in China Daily, we explore how the reported speech is chosen to serve the communicational intention of the reporter and how the subjective intention is communicated through the reported speech in the news and thus affect the construction of discourse meaning. Study of this kind is of great help to the readers, who are to understand the reporter’s impact on the meaning of the news at a further level.

Key words: Conversational Implicature; reported speech; English news discourses; Cooperative Principles

摘要：

本文旨在探究新闻语篇中出现的间接引语的会话含义。文中运用会话含义理论和合作原则四条准则的理论，从新闻话语这种特殊的言语行为出发，对英语背景下的新闻话语中的间接引语现象进行研究。笔者通过对《中国日报》的两篇新闻报道中出现的间接引语的深入探究，阐述了间接引语的选择如何服务于新闻报道者的交际意图，以及主体倾向如何通过新闻中间接引语传达并影响新闻意义的建构。本研究有利于读者在更深层次了解新闻报道者对于新闻意义的影响。

关键词：会话含义；间接引语；英语新闻语篇；合作原则

1. Introduction
    News report is a common register frequently seen in the mass media delivering information to the public. News largely narrates people’s words and how they are saying these words. This basic principle of news can be stated as ‘Something is as such because someone says so’(Fishman,1980:92). Studying the language used in the news discourse is of great value in understanding the social function of the news report. Previous study also indicates that the language used in news report is an important style, and that understanding how the news report serves their social function is significant to the understanding of the social function of language(Fan Hong, 2002). Generally speaking, objectiveness is a fundamental feature of the news discourse. However, as a narration, the news discourse is prone to the influence of the communicative intention and individual attitude of the subject. Since subjectiveness is inevitable in the news discourse which is narrative in nature, reported speech in the news is apparently susceptible to the intention of the speaker. Therefore, it is essential to understand and account for the significance of the reported speech in news discourses. Most previous studies, however, take a critical perspective to examine the reporter’s implied meaning in exploiting the reported speech. Few studies were conducted exploring the conversational implicature of the reported speech in news discourses and the effects on the objectivity of the news discourses.