II。 Theoretical Foundation

   This thesis is based on two pragmatic theories, the Cooperative Principle (CP) and Politeness Principle (PP)。 Therefore, it is necessary to introduce the CP and PP in detail and explain the relationship between the two theories。 文献综述

2。1 Cooperative Principle (CP) 

2。1。1 CP and Its Maxims

In 1967, the American linguist and philosopher Herbert Paul Grice put forward the idea of Cooperative Principle in Logic and Conversation when he delivered speeches in Harvard (Ning, 2015)。 He thinks that the communication between people is not disorderly or unsystematic, and the participants have the same purpose, so they can understand each other and the conversation can proceed smoothly (Li, 2013)。 In order to realize this goal, participants of the communication are willing to observe an accepted principle and abide by some basic rules, which he calls Cooperative Principle (Brown & Yule, 2000)。 And then Grice discussed the CP in detail and pided it into four categories as following: 

1。 The maxim of quantity: try to provide enough information

  (1) Make your contribution as informative as required。

  (2) Do not make your contribution more informative than required。 

2。 The maxim of quality: try to provide true information

  (1) Do not say what you believe to be false。

  (2) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence。

3。 The maxim of relation

  Be relevant

4。 The maxim of manner: the first three categories are related to “what to say”, and this one is concerned with “how to say”

  (1) Avoid obscurity of expression。

  (2) Avoid ambiguity。来.自^优+尔-论,文:网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

  (3) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)。

  (4) Be orderly。

                                     (Levinson, 2001: 101-102)

2。1。2 The Violation of the CP

   If everyone observed the CP, there would be no conflicts, no lies and no wars。 However, it is impossible。 The maxims of the CP are not prescriptive rules; actually, they are something used to guide people when communicating with others (Li, 2012)。 Thus, in real life, people would violate the CP for various reasons, such as saving others’ face, ending the conversation and shifting the topic (Widdowson, 2000)。 When one participant violates the CP, his intended meaning is implied instead of expressing directly, and then the conversational implicature (CI) is generated; at that time the hearer needs to infer the implication of the speaker according to what he said。