A Study Of Pragmatic Mechanisms And Literary Effects In The Conversations Of Pride And Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is the masterpiece of Jane Austen, the famous British female novelist. Since it was published in1813. the novel has been paid much attention to by scholars and reviewers. Researches on Pride and Prejudice mainly concentrate on its viewpoint on love and marriage and the feminist ideas reflected in it. In recent years, the vivid and splendid conversation in the novel has been attracting more and more attention. Many scholars hold the view that the conversation is one of Austen’s important means of fictional creation. Moreover, they explore the art of conversation in this novel from many different perspectives, for instance, the functional linguistic perspective and the pragmatic perspective. However, there has not been much research which analyzes the conversation in the novel to relate the literary effects with the integration of relevant pragmatic discoveries. Therefore, the thesis attempts to analyze the dynamic literary process of characters’ use of language and probe into the literary pragmatic effects. It aims to demonstrate how the abstract literary meaning is better delivered through pragmatic mechanisms, deepen people’s understandings of the skills and means of the fiction writing of the author and meanwhile contribute to a better appreciation of the novel.As far as theoretical foundation is concerned, the thesis firstly investigates into Speech Act Theory, Conversational Analysis and Politeness Theory. Then, it probes into the above three pragmatic theories’ respective literary significance when they are applied to literary works. Finally it forms a theoretical framework for this study through an integration of theories. In the detailed pragmatic analysis of conversations of characters in the novel, with the Speech Act Theory, it tries to explore the characteristics of characters’personalities through the analysis of characters’ observing or violating of felicity conditions in carrying out speech acts. Also, it demonstrates how the ironical humorous effects are produced in the processes in which certain characters carry out indirect speech acts. With Conversational Analysis, it illustrates Austen’s skills in characterization on one hand and on the other hand reflects the relationship between characters. With the Politeness Theories, it shows how the relationship between characters changes, how the plot develops and how the conflicts are produced and deepened.Theoretically, this study contributes to a further understanding of classic pragmatic theories like Speech Act Theory, Conversational Analysis and Politeness Theory. Practically, it promotes a deeper apperception of the value of Pride and Prejudice, providing the inspiration for deep understanding and appreciation of other literary works. It also serves as a reference for literary teaching, literary translation, etc.