3。1。2。2 Violating of the Quality Maxim 9

3。1。2。3 Violating of the Relation Maxim 10

3。2 Politeness Principle 11

3。2。1 The Politeness Principle 11

3。2。2 Observing of the Politeness Principle in Obama’s Speeches 12

3。2。2。1 Observing of the Approbation Maxim 12

3。2。2。2 Observing of the Modesty Maxim 13

3。2。2。3 Observing of the Agreement Maxim 14

3。2。2。4 Observing of the Tact Maxim and the Generosity Maxim 15

3。2。2。5 Observing of the Sympathy Maxim 15

IV。 Pragmatic Functions of English Political Euphemisms in Obama’s Speeches 17

4。1 Concealing Truth 17

4。2 Showing Politeness 17

4。3 Winning Support 17

V。 Conclusion 19

Bibliography 20

Appendix 21

A Pragmatic Analysis of Political Euphemisms in Obama's Speeches

I。 Introduction 

1。1 Background

    So far, the definition of pragmatics remains uncertain。 The most popular one is “Pragmatics studies the utterances in terms of users and context。”(He, 2003:34) Pragmatic principles play a definitely significant role in public speeches。 Public speech, a means of human communication, undeniably involves verbal and nonverbal factors。 At the same time, by delivering public speeches, one can clearly show his opinions and knowledge, thus arousing people’s attention。 It is known to us that public speeches are usually well-written before being delivered to the audience; every single word in speeches is chosen elaborately with great concern。 Therefore, public speeches are definitely good materials for pragmatic analysis。论文网

    Richard Greene (one of the leading communication strategists and public speaking trainer in the world) once said that Obama is one of American’s greatest orators in modern era。 Shel Leanne (an executive coach) also showed that Obama’s gift for communicating helped him to become and remain a towering figure in American politics。 James Fallows also suggested that few people can keep pace with Obama in terms of his outstanding speech skills。 What’s more, among English language learners, there even exists the phenomenon of “Say it like Obama”, which further proves that Obama’s speeches are really good materials for pragmatic analysis。

1。2 Structure of the Thesis

Five chapters are included in this thesis。

Chapter one is a general introduction to this thesis, which includes the research background and the structure of the thesis。 

Chapter two involves the introduction of English political euphemism, including its definition, formation and classification。

Chapter three, the main part of this paper, deals with two pragmatic principles——Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle。 Also, it makes a detailed analysis of Obama’s speeches based on these two pragmatic principles。

Chapter four summarizes the pragmatic functions of using pragmatic principles in political speeches。

Chapter five deals with the conclusion of this paper, including the discussion of the study’s findings, implications and limitations。