Application Of Conversational Implicature Theory To The Analysis Of The Utterances In A Dream Of Red Masions

A Dream of Red Mansions is favored by people since its coming out, and somescholars begin to research on the utterances in the novel from pragmatics in recent years.Nevertheless, little research has touched the study on the utterances of the maids.Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze the maids’ utterances in the novel from thetheory of conversational implicature, intends to explore the feasibility of application ofconversational implicature theory to utterances analysis in novels.The theory of conversational implicature is one of the most important ideas inpragmatics[2], and cooperative principle is the core content of the theory. According toGrice, cooperative principle and its maxims are the general agreement of speaker’ssuccessful exchange. However, for some reasons, speakers usually flout the maxims ofcooperative principle in daily communication. As a novel is a reflection of real life,characters in the novel may also flout the maxims. Language is considered as theprincipal element of literary works, by which Cao Xueqin applied to creating hundredsof vivid characters in the novel. As a female group in A Dream of Red Mansions, themaids are significant and salient in the framework of the novel.The author categorizes the maids’ utterances according to the maxims theirutterances flout, they are the maxim of quality, the maxim of quantity, the maxim ofrelevance and the maxim of manner. The author analyzes the maids’ underlyingmeaning and intension in flouting the four maxims, and analyzes the maids’characteristics, character relationships and their conflicts via their utterances.The overall findings of this study demonstrate that the theory of conversationalimplicature is feasible to the analysis of character utterances in a novel. Analyzing theexact maxim or maxims the maids’ utterances flout, it is effective in understanding theirunderlying meaning and intension, such as self-protection, exhortation, or their feelingslike angry, jealous, and unhappy and so on. The author also finds that people in closerrelationships are more liable to flout the maxims. Meanwhile, these analyses makereaders better understand the characters and their relationships, as well as conflicts and social reality at that time.