《傲慢与偏见》中言语反讽的关联理论研究.docx

《傲慢与偏见》中言语反讽的关联理论研究.docx

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《傲慢与偏见》中言语反讽的关联理论研究

学校代码:

10036

课程论文开题报告

《傲慢与偏见》中言语反讽的关联理论研究

培养单位:

英语学院

课程名称:

语言学

研究方向:

经贸翻译

作者:

赵明玉

日期:

二〇一三年九月十日

1Introduction

Verbalironyisainterestingandsignificantphenomenainconversationalinteractions,Manyscholarshasengagedinresearchingitsoastomakeclearitscognitive-pragmaticmechanism.Andthethesis,basedontheachievementsmadewithintherelevance-theoreticframework,appliesthemethodofquantitativeaswellasqualitativeanalysisandstudiesthespecificverbalironycasesinPrideandPrejudice.Ittakesverbalironyasacaseandpresentsacomprehensiveaccountofthegenerativeandoperativemechanismsunderlyingitsuseaswellasthecommunicativeeffectsitmayproduceorisintendedtoachieveinordertofullyrevealitsrichnessofmeaning,diversityoffunctionandcomplexityofuse,especiallyinsettingupanewviewpointtocomprehendtheliterarytexts.

1.1NeedfortheStudy

Ithasbeenthousandsofyearsforstudyingirony,whichcanbetracedbacktotheancientGreeks.AfterPlato,manyscholarsfromvariousstudyingfieldsanalyzedandexplainedthiskindoflanguagephenomenon—irony.Thestudyofironyfirstoriginatedinthefieldofrhetoric.Later,manyanalysesonironyappearedinthefieldsofsemantics,psychology,pragmaticsandespeciallycognitivepragmatics.Withthedevelopmentofpragmatics,manyascholarprecededdeepandtheoreticalstudiesonitsapplication,amongwhichGrice’sinterpretationofconversationalimplicature,Searle’sinsincerespeechacttheory,andLeech’spolitenesstheorywereofgreatsignificance.In1981,SperberandWilsonopenedthedoorintoanewworldofironycomprehension.TheyproposedtreatingironyasakindofimplicitechoicdissociativeusewithintheframeworkofRelevanceTheory,developingthestudyofironicutterancesintoacognitivefield.

AccordingtoSperberandWilson,oneofthequestionsthatshouldbekeptinmindinassessinganewapproachtohumancommunicationiswhetheritisrelevanttomorethanoneofthemanydisciplinesinvolvedinthestudyofhumancommunication,suchaslinguistics,pragmatics,literarystudies,andwhetheritcouldfosterfruitfulinteractionsamongthem.Sinceliteratureisdeemedasverbal"ironyart"（Halliday,1983:

viii）,literarytextsprovidethescholaroflanguagewithatestinggroundforthemostadvancedtheoreticalmodels,abasisfortheapplicationoflinguistictheories,tobeverified,furtherimprovedandperfected.Byplacingtheargumentonthebasisoftherelevance-theoreticframeworkofverbalirony,andapplyingtheframeworktothestudyofironicutterancesinliterarydiscourses,thethesisattemptstoshowthefeasibilityofapplyingtherelevance-theoreticapproachtothestudyofverbalirony.Verbalironymaythusbetreatedasatestcase:

successorfailureinthisdomainshouldhaveimplicationsforourviewofutteranceinterpretationasawholeandmakefurthercontributionstothewiderrangeofapplicationofrelevancetheory.

Inaddition,noaccountofcommunicationingeneralwillbecompletewithoutanaccountofliteratureanditscontextualization,andnoaccountofliteraturewillbecompletewithoutanaccountofitsuseofcommunicationresourcegenerallyavailable.Althoughliterarytextsarecharacterizedbythemultiplicityofcommunicationsources（characters,authors,readers,etc.）,theydonotfundamentallydistinguishfromanyothertypeofcommunicationintermsoftheinterpersonalinteraction.Thewritingandreadingofliterarytextscanbeseenasinteractivecommunicativeprocesses.Giventheintegrationoftheliteraryworkintoarelevance-theoreticframeworkofverbalirony,thestudywillbenefitthelinguisticanalysisofliteraturepreciselybecauseoftherelevance-theoreticconceptsofinterpretiveandechoicuse.Thesetermsallowustoexaminethesignificanceofauthorialdistancewithinanoverallaccountofcommunicativeprocesses,thusrelievingatleastthisrespectofliteratureofitsspecialstatusandrelatingittootherformsofindirectcommunicationsuchasverbalirony.Furthermore,therelevance-theoreticapproachtocontextproposesrulesforchoosingthemostapproachtocontextforpropositions.Therefore,ittouchesoncrucialquestionsforliterarytheory.Byapplyingtheimprovedrelevance-theoreticframeworkofverbalironytothestudyofironicutterancesinliterarytexts,thethesiswillmakemethodologicalproposalsforanalyzingverbalironyinliterarytext,contextandareathatconnectsthetwo,theseproposalwillcontributetogeneralpragmatictheoryofliterature.

1.2StructureofThesis

Thethesisconsistsofsevenchapters.Thepresentchapterisintendedasageneralintroductiontothewholeresearch.

Chapter2isaliteraturereview.Ithasasurveyof,andare-speculationaboutthesemantic,pragmaticandpsycholinguisticstudyofverbalirony,andpointsouttheweaknessesofthesetheories.Thenitadducesthattheproblems,whichcannotbecopedwithinthesetheories,canberesolvedwithintherelevance-theoreticframework.

Chapters3,4,5and6formthemainbodyofthepresentinvestigation.Chapter3laysdownthetheoreticalframeworkofthepresentstudy.Thischapter,first,willsummarizethecentralclaimsofrelevancetheory.Then,arelevance-theoreticaccountofironicutteranceswillbetentativelyspeltoutandstudied.Itisarguedthatarelevance-theoreticaccount,whichtreatsverbalironyasanechoicinterpretationoftheattributedthought,utteranceorassumption,conveyingthespeaker'sattitudeofdissociation,ismorepromising.Itisalsoarguedthatarelevance-theoreticviewoftheroleofcontextualassumptionsinutteranceinterpretation,whichtreatssituationallyorganizedinformationasmerelyasubsetofthewholeinformationavailabletothehearer,offersmoreinsightintoawiderrangeofironiccases.Chapters4,5and6aredevotedtotheapplicationoftheimprovedmodelofironycomprehensiontoanalyzingverbalironyinPrideandPrejudice.Thisanalysistheonehand,showstheeffectivenessofthistheoreticalframeworkindiscourseanalysis;ontheotherhand,providesanewperspectiveontheuniquecharmofAusten’sartofverbalirony,andthereforemakesasignificantattempttocombinecognitivepragmaticswithliterarycriticism.

Finally,Chapter7summarizesthemajorfindingsfromthisresearchandpointsitslimitations.Italsoincludessuggestionsforfurtherstudy.

2Outline

2.1Basicconceptsandtheories

2.1.1VerbalIrony 

Verbalirony isastatementinwhichthemeaningthataspeakeremploysissharplydifferentfromthemeaningthatisostensiblyexpressed.Theironicstatementusuallyinvolvestheexplicitexpressionofoneattitudeorevaluation,butwithindicationsintheoverallspeech-situationthatthespeakerintendsaverydifferent,andoftenopposite,attitudeorevaluation.

2.1.2RelevanceTheory

ThemainadvantageofGriceans’accountforpragmaticsisthatitprovidesanon-semanticorpragmaticaccountforthetraditionaltheoriesofmeaning.However,itremainsunclearhowhisstudycouldbedevelopedintoacompleteandpsychologicalpragmatictheory.ButinRelevance:

CommunicationandCognition（1995/2001）,SperberandWilsonshiftthecenterofpragmatictheorybylocatingitfirmlyinanattemptofcognition,orRelevanceTheory.ThegeneralaimofRelevanceTheoryis“toidentifyunderlyingmechanisms,rootedinhumanpsychology,whichexplainhowhumanscommunicatewithoneanother（SperberandWilson,2001:

32）.

2.1.3ContextualInformation

AccordingtoRelevanceTheory,contextisnotfixedindependentlyinthecomprehendingprocess;itisproducedorconstructedduringtheinterpretationprocess,whichdiffersitfromthatinthetraditionalview（whichholdsthatthecontextisgivenpriortotheactofcommunication）.Wheninterpretinganutterance,thehearerselects,orindeedactivelyconstructs,acontextwhichseemslikelytocreatethegreatestnumberofcontextualeffectsattheleastcost.

2.1.4VerbalIronywithintheFrameworkofRelevanceTheory

SperberandWilson’sarticle“Ironyandtheuse-mentiondistinction”（1981）isanepoch-makingpaperinthelonghistoryoftheresearchingverbalirony,whichismostlydifferentfromthetraditionalviewonverbalirony,becauseitbringsaboutasignificantchangeinthewaysofstudyingverbalironyfromtheperspectiveofthecommunicativeapproach.Combinedwiththelaterdevelopment,theirtheoryofverbalironyisthuscalledtheechoic-interpretationtheoryofirony,whichwillbepresentedinthispart.Andverbalironyisperceivedasimplicitinterpretiveechoicusewithadissociativeattitude.

2.2Literaturereview

Thischapterattemptstoreviewtheapproachestovenalironythatarepredominantwithinlinguistics,movingfromsemantictopragmatictopsycholinguisticstudies,withdifferentfocusesonvariousfacetsofverbalirony.Whilesomeinsightshavebeenattained,strandsofmisunderstandingormisinterpretationstillremain.Finally,thischaptercommentsonthosepreviouseffortsinthedirectionofaunifiedandsystematicaccountwhichthepresentstudysetsouttooffer.

2.2.1Semanticstudyofverbalirony

Mostsemanticapproachestoironiccommunicationassociatethephenomenonwithsimplecommunicativeformulasuchassayingtheoppositeofwhatonemeans,orassayingsomethingotherthanwhatonemeans.Therefore,ironyistreatedasindirectspeech.AsQuintilianobserved,thereisadifferencebetweenwhattheironistsaysandwhathemeans.Andhedefinesverbalironyasthefactthatsomethingistheoppositeofwhatisactuallysaid.Manyanalystshavefallenforthisidea,toagreaterorlesserext