Research On The Deception From The Perspective Of Relevance-Adaptation

Deception (DEC for short) is a common linguistic phenomenon. Researches of deception have been done by scholars from different disciplines such as sociology, psychology and pragmatics.They have made a lot of brilliant achievements in theories such as Leakage Hypothesis,Information Manipulation Theory and Interpersonal Deception Theory. All these achievements provide a broader view and offer a new perspective for our in-depth studies. However, previous reviews of DEC are not systematic and few have been focused on the study of deception as a pragmatic strategy. Therefore, we will analyze DEC as a pragmatic strategy in the present research.The author analyzes two of the most influential pragmatic theories-the Relevance Theory proposed by Sperber & Wilson and the Adaptation Theory put forward by Verschueren in explaining DEC and it turns out none of these theories alone can fully explain the linguistic form of DEC.Relevance Theory puts more emphasis on the interpretation of utterance and less on the description of the phenomena, while Adaptation Theory pays much attention to the description of the generation processes.Therefore, this thesis applies Relevance-Adaptation Model to the analysis of deception in Cell Phone,a film directed by Feng Xiaogang. It aims to discuss the dynamic generation process and pragmatic effects of deception in this film.Eighteen dialogues are chosen from the Cell Phone as the corpus for research. Within the framework of Relevance-Adaptation Model,the conclusion has been drawn out that the generation of DEC is a dynamic process of relevance-adaptation.The production and interpretation of DEC is guided by relevance, and the language user makes a presumption of relevance according to the specific context and then makes decisions adapting to the social world, the mental world and the physical world. Meanwhile, the analysis of the deception in Cell Phone proves to be feasible and sufficient for explaining deception under the Relevance-Adaptation Model.The dynamic research on DEC may make us understand the reasons and processes for the generation and construction of DEC,and provide us with a better understanding of the positive and negative effects produced by the utilization of DEC strategies. The present thesis is made up of six chapters.Chapter One serves as an introduction, which presents the research background, the objectives, the significance of the research, the methodology and the organization of this dissertation.Chapter Two gives a detailed demonstration of DEC in the aspects of the definition and classification of DEC and the features of DEC.Brief introduction of Cell Phone and reasons for choosing Cell Phone as a case study are also presented.Chapter Three is the related theoretical framework, which consists of Relevance Theory, Adaptation Theory and Relevance-Adaptation Model.Chapter Four is concerned with the theoretical basis for DEC:analysis of DEC under Relevance-Adaptation Model.With the selected dialogues of the film Cell Phone as a case study, this part mainly analyzes the process generation of DEC.Chapter Five mainly focuses on the effects under Relevance-Adaptation Model.Chapter Six is the conclusion of this dissertation. In this chapter, besides the major findings of this study, the limitations of the study are pointed out and suggestions for future research are offered as well.The present thesis conducts a research on the generation as well as the construction of DEC in the light of the Relevance-Adaptation Model via analysis on Cell Phone,which sheds light on the study of DEC in daily verbal communication. What's more, it might be of great use in the appreciation of films and literatures.Meanwhile, the utilization of DEC strategies is helpful to the improvement of people's pragmatic and communicative competence.