A RT-based Approach To Evasive Answer

Evasive answer is an important strategy in question-answer communication. Based on the study of the previous researchers, including Galasinski (1996,2000), Clayman (1993,2001,2002) and Bull (1988,1993,2003) ect., the present thesis defines evasive answer like this:the evasive answer is that the answerer intentionally avoids what the question asks, without providing the information that the questioner expects. The present thesis is intended to investigate the cognitive mechanisms and pragmatic functions of evasive answer from the perspective of Relevance Theory.In the setting of the Regular Press Conference of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (http://www.fmprc.gov.cn), the author analyzes the spokesperson's remarks from 2005 to 2010 and gets 78 evasive answers. Based on the collected data, the present thesis finds there are two ways to achieve the strategy of evasive answer: reconstructing the cognitive context and making use of the cognitive context. The main means to reconstruct the cognitive context include refusing, adding, reducing and changing the cognitive assumptions, while the main means to make use of the cognitive context include attacking the question itself and responding by questioning the journalist. By these means, the answerer's information may contradict with the questioner's old information, or the new information of the answer is combined with that of the question and cognitive implications are got. When enough cognitive effects are achieved, the optimal relevance is realized naturally.After exploring how EA is adopted, we move to the pragmatic functions of EA. The pragmatic functions can be divided into two aspects:the positive functions and the negative functions. As for the positive functions, EA can be used to protect oneself, mitigate the embarrassment, keep the secret, achieve a face-saving effect and keep a harmonious atmosphere. The negative functions mainly include a danger of throwing oneself into a dilemma.Theoretically speaking, this thesis aims to provide a comparatively comprehensive study of EA from the perspective of RT. Practically speaking, it is expected that this study can be helpful for a more appropriate use of EA for achieving a successful communication.