英文电影对白的语言合作原则解析

Abstract：Angel and Alec have great influence on Tess. In appearance, they are quite different from each other. When Tess meets Angel at the first time, Angel is described as “educated, reserved, subtle, sad, and differing.” However Alec is thought to be “Satan” and does not know to respect a woman.

Key Words：Cooperative Principle Analysis; Dialogues; English Movies

Ⅰ Literature review of cooperative principles

A phosphor and logician, Paul Grice made an attempt to explain the course of natural conversation, in which implied messages are frequently involved. His idea is that in making conversation, the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate; otherwise, it would not be possible for them to carry on the talk. This general principle is called the Cooperative Principle(胡壮麟，2006:190-191).

To be more specific, there are four maxims under this general principle going as follow:

1.The maxim of Quantity :

（1）Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange).

（2）Do not make your contribution more informative than required.

2. The maxim of Quality:

（1）Do not say what you believe to be false.

（2）Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

3. The maxim of Relation:

Be relevant

4. The maxim of Manner:

（1）Avoid obscurity of expression.

（2）Avoid ambiguity.

（3）Be brief.

（4）Be orderly.

People are supposed to follow this principle and its maxims to arrive at meaningful verbal exchange in their communication in an effective way.

The Cooperative Principle and its four maxims are the core theory of H.P Grice’s pragmatic theory, which play a vital role in reading human being’s speech communication as well as English lines of the movies.

Ⅱ Cooperative Principle Analysis of Dialogues in the English Movies

Dialogues of the movies belong to the category of the pragmatics, thus it is possible for the pragmatics to be applied to dialogues .Besides, if the pragmatics is applied to dialogues, the film''s artistic effect can be greatly improved.

The theory of the Cooperative Principle was first advanced by American linguist G.H Grice (Grice, 1975:45), which is an important theory of the pragmatics and plays an important role in reading human being''s speech communication. It is an essential prerequisite to a successful conversation .Generally speaking, the participants of the conversation are supposed to observe the Cooperative Principle, but it does not mean that they will observe it all the time. On the contrary, people will inadvertently or intentionally violate the Cooperative Principle now and then (倪奕旋，20006).