A Pragmatic Study On Allegorical Language In Stratagems Of The Warring States

Language reflects communities. Form of language is restricted by political and cultural environment of communities. The Period of Warring States is the time that has the most complicated political situation, the most frequent war, and the most pluralistic values in Chinese history. The plotters were active and the allegorical language became the striking linguistic feature in the time. LiuXiang on Stratagems of the Warring States keeps those strategies and conversations in writing. The content includes over 250 years of all The Period of Warring States and most of the recorded events have historic basis. It supplies a perfect space-time range and verifiable bases, so this paper takes the core of Stratagems of the Warring States for subject matter. First, as a form of speech, the allegorical language has the particularity of the times, the inevitability of the existence and the necessity of study. The research analyses and induces the pragmatic strategies making use of speech act theory, relevance theory, adaption theory, distance theory, face- menace theory and conversational implicative theory of the field of pragmatics. On that basis, the pragmatic strategies is concluded that it comprises distance tactics theory about explicit instructions with reasons, associated reasoning strategies and touched hearts with love, relevance tactics about lure them by the promise of profit, face- menace tactics about force them with potential, conversational implicative tactics about other meaning. Furthermore, the study expounded decision criteria and signs of the times, supplied possibility to understand and grasp law of pragmatics. In the end, on basis of studying, the paper tries to offer need- approbate principia of allegorical language.