Pragmatic Analysis on White Lie

科技信息0外语论坛0SCTENCE & TECHNOLOGY NFORMATION2011年第23期Pragmatic Analysis on White Lie赵天毓(陕西省理工学院大学外语教学部陕西汉中723000)[摘要]善意的谎言是在 日常生活中常见的交际方法。本论文将对善意说言作- -个大致的论述。在文中我将用语用学中常见的方法来分析它,有时还会遇到心理分析。我们还会遇到善意谎言发生的不同场景以及在达些场景中使用的善意谎言的特点。[Key words]White lie; Cooperntive principle (CP); Polite principle (PP); Adaptability; Contextual relate.All of us know to lie i bad and to white lie is ecesible. But thelisteners alwaye become angry beceuse they feel to be cheated. Why?Sometimes they appear for maintaining the social relationship or forJust because they think they have the right to know the fac. However, other purpoees, they need to do some preparing work to reach their aims:not all results are good to them. So, there is a tactful way to avoid“Good moming Mns. Creen, You always loo vigorous and never old, 1someone being affected by sad news- the using of white lie.really want to know where you've got this dreas, and I'm veryWhite lie takes an important role in our daily conversations. How appreciating of it. By the way I want to aalthe white lie happens and progresses, which interests me moet, will beht aleo can be used implicitly to imply there meaning for they don'tdiscused in this theis. The purpoee of writing this theis is for helping want to rise their request dretly:people to re establish their conception of lie (epecify the definition ofwhite lie) and to state more accessible lie when it is necesary, LieIt is obviously that the speaker's real aim of the words is ltting thesometimes is not 8s bad韶people always thinking, I promise most people listener to open the window. Participants need to make an effort tohave ever lied to others with diflerent aims. Now it is the time to change cooperate to satisfy the purpose of the conversation. The CP is adapted inthe atitude towards it. Then. to this useful and kind communicational most situations of conversations. The tllk which failed to suit thistactics, what should we pay attention to, how should we use it ia the principle is nol a Bucceas one.purpose of writing this thesis. Our aim is to speak more accessible lieTo discuse the Cooperative Principle more detailedly, Gricewhen it is necesar..subdivided it into 4 maxime:1 am glad to find that this ubjet has not been studied in linguisticQuality Maxim:way; I have got free space do this thesis. But many pecople have studied1)Make your contribution a informative 8 is required (for thelies in criminal paychology. So it is not a completely unfamiliar topic to curent purpose of the exchange).all ofus. What I have rerred is the theories on epplied paychology2)Do not make your contribution more informative than is requirod.(Applied peaychology, by Le Guo'an, Nankai University Prea). The exactQuantiy Maxim:white lie exarmples are used in many areas in which I would like toTry to make your contibution one that is true:discuss in separate sections all of which have their own features. As an1)Do not say what you believe to be false.important theoryADAPTABILTY will be drawn into the thesis to2)Do not ay that for which you lack adequale evidence.analyze the motivation of the epeaker for the reasons he/she uscea whiteBe relevant.The tools we need to analyze the white lie are abstract theories. It isManner Maxim:necessary to introduce them at first:Be perpicuous:I)Avoid obocurity of expression.1 Cooperative Principle2)Avoid ambiguity.3)Be brief (avoid uncesary prolixity).stage at tohich it oeeurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk4)Be orderly.exchange in which you are enguged (Cole and Morgean, 1975:45).In this Thesis CP is used to analyue the rationality of utterances. ForGrice (1975) example,Above words is the definitin of CP (cooperative principle). The"To prevent latent danger, I have to lie lo othen."principle uncovers the main features and rules of the conversation.2 Politeness Principle and Face TheoryDuring the communication, all the sentences are clowely connected witheach other,llofthemshouldhem should have talked the same thing inPP (politeness principle) is rised by Lech (1983:132) which isspeaker's intention is not always clear to the listener. Sometimes these polieness principle may be formulated in a general way from too aspects:goals are explicily, for example:to minimite (other thing being equal) the expression of impolite beliefsA:I have a pet.and meaximite (other thing being equal) the epression of polite blif..."B: Oh what kind of a pe?(He Ziran, Notes on Pragmatics). So the six maxims appear in pain:A: It'sa dog,1) Tact Maxim (in impoitives and comissiwes)B: What kind of dog?a. Minimize coet to othen;A: It'sa Cocker Spaniel.b. Maximize beneft to othens.B: Crown up or■puppy?2) Generosity Maxim (in impoiives and comissives)A: It's full grown.a. Minimize benefit to self;B: What color is it?b. Mxinize co中国煤化工A: It's black and white.3) AprobaionB: Why didn't you say you had a full -gowrn black and whitea. Minimize dit:TYHCNMHGCocker Spaniel aa pet in the fimt place?b. Maximise prsise of othen.'2812011年第23期SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INFORMATIONO外语论坛O科技信息4) Modesty Maxim (in epressives and asertives)The four studying angles are:ze praiseFirst, we must afim thcontexxtual relates of adaptability. Theb. Maximize dispraise of others.5) Agreement Maxim (in assertives)utterance choosing. It relates to every aspects of physical context (ex. The且Minimize disgeement between self and other;distance afect the volume of the voice), the social relationships of theb. Maximize gcement betwen self and others.speaker and the listener, and the feeling and atitude of the partieipants.6) Sympathy Maxim (in assertives)Second, in the procedure of conversation, we must go to the discourse bya Minimize antipathy between self and other,consulting diferent structural objects of adaptaility. As theb. Maximize sympathy between self and other.communicative choosing always outspread on all kinds of varied layers ofparicipants in a comnunicaive event. This concept is familiar to Asian. phenomenon can relatces to any structural layer.We call it“mianzi" in Chinese, and it bears the connotation of "honor".Third, any kind of pragmatic description or pragmatic explanationThere are three main facors involved which bring such a face must explain the dynamics of adaptablity which appears in the studyingsystem in to being; power, distance and the weight of the imposition.phenomenon, in other words, the development of adaptability on the timeHere, “power” refers to the rertical disparity between the axis. Essentially, the mission could not complete if there are lack of theparticipants in the hierarchical structune. In a hierarchical structuralvigor which Was infused by choosing negotiation. The mission must refercommunication, if someone hato the explanation of the actual operation of adapting courses. That is tohe/she has plus powernication, if someone has special prilege over otherprticipants,equestionmmust been answered is: how is the principle and tacticame as power. Itcan be seen say, thmost easily in egalitarian relationships. Two cloe friends has leae of communication works during the process of procedure and explanation?relationships, so they have close distance; on the other hand, twoFourth, we must consider about the difference in the aspect ofgovemment oficialsa of dfferent nations are likely to be of equal power salience of the adaplation procese. Not all choosing (including outputingbut more distance. The weight of imposition is the hird factor ffect face choosing and explaining choosing) have the same consciousnes andstrategy. Even if two participants in a speech event have a very fixed motivation. As we referred, some choices were done nearly spontaneously,relationship, the face strategies will be quit predictable. We will knowbut other choices have high rationality.what is the speaker's intention and all his eforts are only made for oneThe four missions are essences of white lie analyzing. but they don'tim. White lie is the moet ueful straley to reech commnication have the equal satus. Their functions are complementary.purposes. I will discuss it in details in part three.First, the combination of contextual correlates of adaptability and thestructural objects of adaptability can be used to define the locus of3 Adaptabilityadapting phenomenon.It is a very important conception to analyze while lie. To understandThen, explaining the dynamics of adaptability and considering thehy language communication is sucesful (hough there are lots of shockwave of the variation and negoiation are definitely the centralge) west assume thmission of mainly pragmatic researches, because the fundamentalquestion here is the definition of the courses of adaptability.language which provides a possibility to let people choose utterancequesusnegotiatory from a series of uncertain range, and it is a feature of each other. It more or less makes the language user has the salience oflanguage which has the efer that the communication can be cloed in the adepaion process.upon the max satisfying degree. But there are four point needs to be paidPragmatic analyzing of white lieattention to:First, the 'communicative requirement' does not mean that theIn this section we are going to discuss the motivation of the liar.using of language must have the deinite significance of communication. From the linguistic way, the white lie is sometimes eaay to be understoodAlthough we have the attitude that every language using (even if there are according to the context of the situation at that time.only one paricipant) generally has communicativeness but we shouldFirst, we are sure that white lie nearly violated every maxim of theconsider it as a belief and a basis which should be relied on by the Cooperative Principle. For Quality Maxim, the utterance of the liar is notfollowing opinions. We should think about this kind of language using At informnative 8s is required, what he told is always more infomnative than isleast they are close to the pure simple expresiveness without anyrequired.communicative intentions or efects.For quantity maxim, the liar never contributes his worde that areSecond, the * communicative requirement' seems refeming to the true, and worse, he/she knows that what he/ she says is false. He/sherequirement' mainly must make efots to let you believe what he/ she said has adequateoccurs in context, s0 it can be used to refer to certain idiographic evidence.requirement.For relation maxim, luckily, liar's words always are relevant to whatThird, the asatisfly' in definitin is only to 'be clooed in upon'- the listener want to know.this kind of approach varies in dfferent degree. Morover, this definitionFor manner maxim, the white lie is always brief and orderly.cannot be excluded of the communication failure we defined before. Ithtis not eay of hin/her to be perspicuous, bu the liar will try his!has the possibility to occur in Do communication σr wrongber best to avoid obscurity and ambiguity of expression.communication.The Politeness Principle is well obeyed by he lar. H/she tries his/At last, adaptability cannot be aplained 韶monomial courses. her best to let the listener get the max benefit, minimize dispraise of theexisted already. In fact, it is also not caay. From another aspect, theAdaptability can well explain the questions: why the white lies arecontext for choosing od the languege can be changed during the coursces of used, and how white lies happen. The four aspects o the adaptability areutterance choosing. In other words, the context can adapt to the choice.the most important hings in this thesis. The contextual relates ofhe adaptability provides 屿four explicit missions to pragmatic sdaptability have中国煤化工he teis. And hedeacripion and pragmatic explnation. The‘four missions' σ four remains spects 1，studying angles' are not separnste researching problems. They should be5 Summary:MYHCNMH G(下转第260页)considered as universal and coherent key points of praygmatics research.- 2522011年第23 期SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NFORMATIONO外语论坛O科技信息ome homework. But before they do such a deed, they will rack their("Transformative Trave!", New College English, Book 1)brains trying to hink of something else to do.-天中的时间moming与ofiermoon属于同一个序列.在段落中构("Sudy Habits", New Cllgr Engish. Book 2)成共现,衔接 上下文。如果把顺序改为afenoon, moming,人们就会认⑤中用概括词instrument来代替a fairly good mind,在构成接应为错误或是极 为异常。的同时，表达出作者对自己有幸拥有聪明的头脑的自豪与珍惜之情。(4)局部_整体关系⑥中的概括词do such a deed回指do some homework，两者构成衔接上下义关系区别的是命名上的内酒，而局部-整体关系冈别的是关系,从中我们也不难体会出他们不喜欢做家务。实体的“内包"。如英语中的body与arm a, legp, feet, hands等就构成局2.5同现关系 ，部整体关系。如:(1)反义关系⑥On the aftemoon of that evenful day, I stood on the porch,反义关系指词项之间意义相反,相对或互补关系。具体来说指语dumb,义可分等的有程度差别的词类关系,两极之间体现对立的层次性。反hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to义词出现在同-句子不同小句内或不同的句子之间或整个语篇中,其happen, 8o I went to the door and waited on the stepes.基本功能是使两个不同的语言成分在意义上形成明显对照.从正反两("How I discovered worda", New College English, Book 2)方面对某个或某此事物或现象进行描写,从而使所在的句子或语篇上由于porch. door与sep都是house的组成部分,垒局部词关系，下衔接，同时增强讲言的表现能力,使听者或读者得到全面而生动的与 houe又构成局部-整体 关系，故事情节非常紧凑,也让读者更好地感知当时的情况，整个语篇取得极为连贯的效果。⑦Music may sthe the savage breast. But it can also damage your 3结束语health when you are at the wheel.("Music to your Cears", New Colle English, Book 2)本文讨论了语篇分析中的-一个重要概念一词汇衔接。 通过分在该例中,oothe与damage是互为反义关系词项,二者之间形成析, 我们可以看出,词汇衔接是作者提供的有形线索.为判断语篇的衔鲜明的对比,反映了音乐的不同功能,它可以平息人的怒气,但是开车接性 连贯性提供了衡量的标准。词汇的问现和复现作为衔接手段,能时听音乐会对人体健康造成伤害,在对照中将语篇的前后意义衔接起突 出语篇中的主题,有利于创造形象,还往往使语言生动活泼,从而加来，达到语篇连贯的目的，以这种方式来介绍主题可以给人留下深刻深读 者的印象。的印象,突出并强化了主题。目前, 语篇教学已受到人们普遍的重视,词汇衔接模式理论对英(2)互补关系语教学具有明显的指导作用。大学英语教师应教导学生掌握词汇衔接互补只有两个对立项组成就是非彼即此或非此即彼,因而对- -个手段， 更好地理解语篇结构以及作者的写作意用,从而提高阅读速度。词项的否定就意味着对另一词项的肯定,双方形成对立统-体。 互补此外， 词汇衔接手段还可以应用于词汇教学，阅读教学听力教学.翻词与反义词有明显的区别反义词的两极之间可插进表示不同程度性译教学以及写作教学等一 系列领城。 只有这样,才能提高学生语篇层质的词语,体现层次可分性(gadbilty);互补词在意义上是互相排斥面 上的能力。同的,一方的存在以另- -方的存 在为前提,如:⑧How do youthe apend their incomnes? Both female and male[参考文献]teenagens epend moet of their money on eclothes, CDs, stereo equipment,1 ]刘辰诞教学篇章语言学(M].上海:上海外语教育出版社, 1999.中国店的特控上RI海海外进教省出版社19entertainment, and travel. Young women spend moet on coemetics, [2]朝壮 ，语算的衔接与连贯[M.上海:上海外语教育出版社,1994.folowed by clothes and jewely. Young men spend the mot on sporting [3)楚树文 讲篇分析概要M:8炒塑南数有1版科19海外迅能grod, cnere, CDs, sero qupen, bigele, soon jean, muica 4)米水生 ,那立信，卤兴伟英汉语篇街接手段对比研究有出版社.200.instruments, and electronic games.[5]徐雪甲赂论英语语篇的词汇衔接手段刀常熟高专学报, 20(1).)("Consumer Behavior of Young People", New College EnglishBook 1)[6]王宇明英语语篇的词汇衔接手段初探]牡丹江师范学院学报:哲社版,该例中, young women与young men呈互补关系,语句之间的衔接主要依靠这对互补词的对照,句与句之间衔接紧密。[7]应惠兰新编大学英语2版.浙江大学,编著北京:外语教学与研究出版社,(3)序列关系2004.在语言实践中,有些词项的排列有一-定的规律 .如次序的排列第一.二, ....方.向的排列东南西北,星期的排列等,这些位于同-序作者简介;韩骥(1979- -),女,汉族, 山东曹县人,山东政法学院外语系救列的词汇项同样可起到衔接作用。如:师,助教,硕士.主要从事英语语言学与教学研究。⑨1 spent the momings going for long walks on the beach, theaftermoons siting under my favorite tree, reading books and listening to[责任编辑:王静]●(上接第252页)I would like to stop my thesis here and make abrief conclusion. In this theis. we discussed wheat a white lie is and for [3]He Ziran. Notes on pragmatic. Nanjin Normal School Presediscus this ieresting language ussge. And we sudied the white lie Culures Forign Languge Teching snd Rearchig Phreusing in diferent language seting. And we find that there are diferent[5]Ron Scollon & Suzanne Wong Sollon. Inerculturalcharacteristics of the white lie using in different settingo. Then, I hope[6]}Zhang Maizeng language & Comounication: An Introduction 0 Lnguisticstbe readers wil get a more clear conception of the white lie, underslandthe white lie pragmatically, and clear up the efots of the liaur, moreover,the liar who wants to belp you indeed. And I bope this thesis will be作者简介:赵天中国煤化工5really helpful. ( P大学,获文学学士部任教,研究方向英:MHCNMHG[Refereonces] .[1]Le Gwo'sn Applicd Poybokoy. NanKai University Prom[责任编辑:常鹏飞]- 260