《看得见风景的房间》的语用分析.doc

学校：10254密级： 论文编号:：091005020125上海海事大学SHANGHAI MARITIME UNIVERSITY硕士学位论文MASTER DISSERTATION 论文题目：看得见风景的房间的语用分析 _学科专业： 英语语言文学（语言学） 作者姓名： 瞿菁 指导教师： 郑立信 教授 完成日期： 二九年六月 v 论文独创性声明本人声明所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。论文中除了特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。其他同志对本研究的启发和所做的贡献均已在论文中作了明确说明并表示了谢意。作者签名：_ 日期：_论文使用授权声明本人同意上海海事大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查阅和借阅；学校可以上网公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。保密的论文在解密后遵守本规定。A Pragmatic Study of Fictional Communication as Reflected in A Room with A View看得见风景的房间的语用分析ByQu JingA DissertationSubmitted to the Graduate Schooland Foreign Languages School in Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for the Degree of Master of English Language and LiteratureUnderThe Supervision ofProfessor Zheng LixinShanghai Maritime UniversityJune 2009AcknowledgementFirst and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Zheng Lixin. Professor Zhengs profound knowledge, remarkable expertise, and intellectual ingenuity have guided my study at Shanghai Maritime University. His insightful instruction and warm encouragement give me the best enlightenment. His valuable suggestions have contributed greatly to my writing of this thesis. It is Professor Zhengs supervision that makes possible this degree paper.I should also express my great gratitude to Professor Cai Yongliang, Professor Rong Xinfang, Professor Wu Jianguo and Professor Zhang Yan. Their informative lectures either in linguistics literature benefit my study. My thanks also extend to many of my classmates and friends. Whenever I feel discouraged by the tough and huge task of writing, their kind encouragement and timely help make me keep up my spirit again. My last but most tender affection should be expressed to my mother. Her constant cares make me a healthy and spiritually integrated person. In return, this thesis is a gift to express my lifelong gratitude. AbstractLiterature is a sort of extension and application of certain properties of language. Linguistic study includes study of all languages, including literary language. Despite the complementary relationship between linguistics and literature study, to build a bridge between linguistics and literature is by no means a happy experience. Many opposing voices get in the way. Scholars in literary circle demean the rigid grammar and rules that ruin the aesthetic beauty of literature as an art, while literary men are criticized for their purely sensible judgment and appreciation which is lacking of scientific and systematic study of language. Despite of several opposing voices, some scholars still endeavor to build up bridges between linguistics and literature study. This becomes possible when linguistic theory develops in different branches. Among different linguistic branches, a scholarship named as “pragmatics” made its appearance in last two decades of 20th century. Several international conferences, pragmatics associations, journals, books all contribute to its later popularity. The prosperity of pragmatics results in a “pragmatic turn”, which is a shift from the earlier theories and hypothesis, in particularly the syntax-only approach of Chomsky to the emphasis of language use in human communication as determined by specific context. Pragmatics emphasizes meaning conveyed in human communication. Literary criticism also admits that literary writing and reading is a communication by the carrier of language and that the meanings are conveyed and understood in the specific context created by the literary text. Thus in the communicative perspective, pragmatics should also be valid in dealing with literary communication, not only daily conversation. This proposition makes the bridging between linguistics and literary study possible. Finally, pragmatics, with its primary aim to study language use in daily conversations, proves itself to be one of the sound approaches to study literary language. More and more theoretical and empirical studies appear and these studies open up a new inter-disciplinary scholarship which successfully builds bridges between pragmatics and literary study. Based on the achievements by scholars in this field, this thesis makes an attempt to carry out a pragmatic study of fictional communication in the novel A Room with a View by British novelist E. M. Forster. It applies cooperative principle and politeness principle to analyze the character language and narrative language in the fiction and studies how these principles promote to convey and understand meanings in the specific context.The thesis firstly reviews the studies made in this field both at home and abroad. Scholars at the preliminary stage demonstrated the applicability of pragmatic theories into the study of literature. Later this was followed by more empirical study to apply certain pragmatic theories into the study of specific literary texts. In next part the thesis introduces necessary theories. It includes introduction of cooperative principle and politeness principle, participants of and means of literary communication. The next part is the body of the thesis. After giving a brief introduction to the fiction A Room with a View and its author, it chooses character language and narrative language as examples to show how pragmatic principles are of help in conveying and understanding meanings in the context. After the analysis of cases at micro level, the thesis discusses how this pragmatic study of literary language is of significance in revealing vivid personalities, profound cultural thoughts and attractive plot of the fiction. The final part concludes the findings, the limitations of the study and the potential for further research. It is expected that this study can be a preliminary attempt to incorporate pragmatics into literary study so as to shed some light on understanding and appreciation of literary text. Key words: A Room with a View; pragmatics; cooperative principle; politeness principle; literary communication摘 要语言学研究的对象包括文学语言,同时文学也是一种语言形式的运用。尽管语言学和文学研究的历史是相互促进的,二者却长期无法携手。语言学被认为用过于机械的语法规则毁坏了文学的美学价值，而文学研究又被认为过于注重文学性和诗性而忽略了文学作为语篇和其他社会语篇相同的一面。尽管如此，随着语言学理论的不断深入发展,一些学者也不断去探索语言学和文学研究的结合。而20世纪后期语用学的兴起和流行为语言学研究打开了一个新视角。语用学强调语言在语境中的使用和意义在交际中的建构。这是从乔姆斯基时代关注语法转变到关注语言在交际中的意义。而文学语言也被称为一种社会语篇，是文学建构的社会语境中作者和读者之间的交际行为。于是在交际的角度上，语用学同样可以用来分析文学交际。正是因为学者在这方面的努力,语用学和文学研究的结合在理论和实证研究上出现并且得到发展。学者在语用学和文学研究的结合上，有些是在理论水平上去论证语用学的理论运用到文学研究中的可行性,为语用学和文学研究奠定了理论基础。有些是把语用学的理论运用到特定的文学作品的分析中, 促进了文学语言的理解和鉴赏,也为文学研究提供了一个新的视角。这些都对语言学和文学研究起到了积极的作用。在前人研究的基础之上，本文尝试用语用学理论中的合作原则和礼貌原则,对英国作家福斯特的看得见风景的房间进行语用分析。本文选取小说中典型的人物语言和叙述语言，探讨合作原则和礼貌原则的运用如何有助于作者建构和读者解读语境中的意义,从而促进对小说的理解和鉴赏。文章首先回顾了前人在该领域的观点还有发现。接着文章介绍了需要用到的理论基础，包括语用理论中的合作原则和礼貌原则，文学交际的参与者和交际的途径。接着主体部分开始对小说看得见风景的房间进行语用分析。在介绍作者和小说之后，选取人物语言和叙述语言作为实例，分析合作原则和礼貌原则在小说交际中的使用是如何帮助作者建构和读者解读语境中的意义。在实例分析之后，文章从宏观上讨论了小说交际的语用分析对小说理解和鉴赏的意义，它可以更好地揭示小说生动的人物形象，深刻的主题思想和独特的故事情节。最后本文总结了研究的发现、不足之处以及深入研究的空间。本文旨在通过对小说交际的语用分析，体现语用学理论在文学交际中的运用，也给文学作品的理解和鉴赏提供一个新的视角。 关键词：看得间风景的房间；语用学；合作原则；礼貌原则；文学交际ContentsAcknowledgementiAbstractii摘 要ivChapter 1 Introduction11.1 Lead-in remarks11.2 Purpose of the study21.3 Justification for the study21.4 Methodology of the study31.4.1 Combination of pragmatics and communication theory31.4.2 Consideration of pragmatic study and fictional development41.4.3 The nature of inter-disciplinary study.41.5 Significance of the study5Chapter 2 Literary Review62.1 A pragmatic study of literature at the theoretical level62.1.1 Cooperative principle application in literary study62.1.2 Politeness principle application in literary study72.2 A pragmatic study of literature at the empirical level82.2.1 Study with the purpose to improve the theory82.2.2 Study with the purpose to improve literary study82. 3 A Pragmatic study of literature in China92.3.1 The study at the theoretical level92.3.2 Empirical study9Chapter 3 Pragmatics and Literary Communication113.1 Pragmatics113.1.1 Cooperative principle123.1.2 Conversational implicature133.1.3 Politeness principle143.2 Literary communication163.2.1 Literary communication163.2.2 Participants of literary communication163.2.2.1 Author and reader163.2.2.2 Character173.2.2.3 Narrator173.2.3 Means of literary communication1873 3.3 Pragmatics in literary communication183.3.1 Applicability of pragmatics in literary communication183.3.2 CP & PP in character language and narrator language193.3.2.1 CP in character and narrator language193.3.2.2 Implicature in character and narrator language203.3.2.3 PP in character and narrator language21Chapter 4 A Room with a View and its Author234.1 E. M. Forsters life and literary career234.2 Cultural thoughts in E. M. Forsters novels244.3 The story of A Room with A View24Chapter 5 A Pragmatic Study of A Room with a View265. 1 CP & PP in communication during the first meeting of lovers265. 2 CP & PP in communication during Lucys back to England375. 3 CP & PP in communication when lovers meet again415. 4 CP & PP in communication when Lucy takes actions50Chapter 6 Functions of Pragmatic Study of the Fiction586.1 Function of CP&PP in character molding586.1.1 Spiritual transformation of Lucy586.1.2 Spiritual deficiency of Cecil616.2 Function of CP & PP in revealing cultural thoughts626.2.1 Deficiency of “Undeveloped hearts” of English middle class626.2.2 Communication as the remedy of “Undeveloped hearts”636.2 Function of CP & PP in plot development64Chapter 7 Conclusion667.1 Findings of the study667.2 Limitations of the study67Bibliography69Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Lead-in remarksLiterature is and can not be anything but a sort of extension and application of certain properties of language (Jakobson, 1987: 93). Linguistic study includes the study of all languages, including literary language. Despite the complementary relationship between linguistics and literature study, they have been at odds with each other for quite a long time. Scholars in the literature circle demean the rigid grammar and rules that ruin the aesthetic beauty of literature as an art, while literary men are criticized for their purely sensible judgment and appreciation which is lacking of scientific and systematic study of language. This situation changes when linguistic theory develops in different branches. Pragmatics, as a branch of linguistics, made its appearance in last two decades of 20th century. Pragmatics studies language use in human communication as determined by specific context. It emphasizes meaning conveyed in human communication. Literary criticism also admits that literary writing and reading is a communication by the carrier of language. Thus in the communicative perspective, pragmatics should also be valid in dealing with literary communication. Based on this assumption, some scholars endeavor to incorporate pragmatics into the study of literature. Their studies open up a new inter-disciplinary scholarship which successfully builds bridges between pragmatics and literary study. Based on the achievements by scholars in this field, this thesis makes an attempt to carry out a pragmatic study of fictional communication in the novel A Room with a View by British novelist E. M. Forster. It applies cooperative principle and politeness principle to analyze the character language and narrative language in the fiction and studies how these principles promote to convey and understand meanings in the specific context.1.2 Purpose of the study This thesis attempts to apply some pragmatic theories, more specifically, cooperative principle and politeness principle to the study of fictional communication in the novel A Room with a Room. Pragmatics, as a branch of linguistics, originally limits its study to the domain of daily conversation. Thus through shifting from the study of daily communication to that of fictional communication, the thesis analyzes how this pragmatic study of literary communication sheds some light on the interpretation and appreciation of this novel. 1.3 Justification for the studyDespite more and more academic attention put to the pragmatic study of literature, the study is always accompanied by many opposing voices. A question is proposed: Does the pragmatic mechanism have any validity in terms of its explanatory power in analyzing literary texts? To answer this question, firstly it should make clear where pragmatics puts its emphasis. Many versions of definitions of pragmatics have the unanimous agreement in that pragmatics studies the meaning of certain language use by language users in communication (Wales, 1989: 369). Secondly it should further ask whether literature text belongs to a kind of communication between language users in which pragmatic mechanism function. Those supporters in this field give many sound reasons. The earliest attentions to demonstrate the validity of pragmatic mechanism in literary text are linguistics Van Dijk from Holland (1976) and American linguist Pratt (1977). Dijk is deeply convinced that both the author and the reader join in literary communication, and he applied conversational implicature into fictional communication. Pratt claims that “Grices account seems perfectly able to handle deviance within literature” (1977:200). Their pioneering statements are further advocated by many followers. Feng (1997) argues that conversation implicature resulted from Grices cooperative principle also occurs in as the literary text (24-30). Brown and Yuel puts the readers and hearer in the same position. The author assumes that his readers are cooperative understanding his intention of writing down certain language (1983:11-12). For politeness principle, Sell (1991) might be one of the pioneers to discuss the applicability of Brown & Levinsons politeness theory to the study of literature. He claims that every politeness phenomenon in spoken language also occurs in literature (1991:218). Simpson (1989) found a very obvious phenomenon of politeness in The Lesson by E. Ionesco. The politeness principle seems to be found its employment only among the characters language. He claimed that it was the intention of the author to apply this principle consciously to reach some artistic effect (171-193). It would cost several pages to illustrate the efforts of many scholars to demonstrate the applicability of pragmatic into the study of literature. These are some typical ones. But it is enough to conclude from the above justifications of scholars that it is rational and feasible to carry out pragmatic study of literature with a view to prove the explanatory power of pragmatics in fictional communication as well as to promote fictional understanding and appreciation. 1.4 Methodology of the studyThis thesis attempts to carry out a pragmatic study of fictional communication seen from novel A Room with a Room. Thus it is not a pure literary study nor does it belong to the pure scope of linguistic study. The interdisciplinary approach is quite noticeable in terms of the theoretical framework. 1.4.1 Combination of pragmatics and communication theorySince fictional language, if studied in the pragmatic approach, needs to focus on its nature of communication between the author and the reader. Thus, it is quite necessary to acknowledge the unique features, the participants, and the means of communication in fiction. That is to say, unlike the conventional study that simply shots at daily conversation, this thesis always put pragmatic strategies into the domain of the communication of fiction, which is taken out communication between the author and reader and it involves author, reader, character, and narrator. This reality makes the analysis be multi-dimensioned in the interactions among all the participants of communication. 1.4.2 Consideration of pragmatic study and fictional developmentBy following the development of the plot in A Room with a Room, it is more plausible for the reader acknowledge how pragmatics help the interpretation of fiction. At the same time, the sub-maxims of cooperative principle and politeness principle are all complimentary to each other and none of the maxims are ignored. Two or more maxims might function together in the same piece of dialogue or narration of the fiction, thus it is quite feasible to take out a qualitative study of how different pragmatic strategy complement to help push the plot development, interpretation of the language, appreciation of its aesthetic value and artistic craftsmanship. 1.4.3 The nature of inter-disciplinary study Since the study is concerned both the pragmatic strategies and the fiction itself, it is quite inter-disciplinary. As the great pioneering figures in this field Van Dijk, Pratt and Sell points out, this study “is not a pure literary study which borrows theories and techniques from a separate discipline of linguistics, neither does it belong to the scope of linguistic study which uses literary texts as examples. It is linguistic and literary as well. It centers on what we have come to call literary texts, but it does not virtually distinguish the communication between literary writers and their readers from any other type of communication” (Sell, 1991a: xiv). It sees “the writing and reading of literary texts as interactive communication processes” (ibid.) and “traces the dynamic reciprocity of text and interpreter within a given histori