Allusional Pretense Approach to Verbal Irony and Its Pragmatic Functions

【作者】 易秀清；

【导师】 赵友斌；

【作者基本信息】 电子科技大学 ， 外国语言学及应用语言学， 2007， 硕士

【副题名】A Case Study of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

【摘要】 作为世界文豪之一,英国作家简?奥斯汀(Jane Austen)的反讽手段可谓发挥到了极致,而奥斯汀最伟大的小说之一《傲慢与偏见》则以其在人物刻画方面的大量讽刺手段而见长。本文以库门?纳卡米瑞(Kumon-Nakamura)等学者的“暗示伪装论”为框架,以英国作家奥斯汀的小说《傲慢与偏见》为文本,分析该小说的“言语反讽”现象,旨在对“暗示伪装论”反讽理论的描述力和解释力进行探讨,从而对“暗示伪装论”及反讽现象有更详尽、深入的理解。“暗示伪装论”是对“原则违背模型”和“回应提及论”两种反讽理论的扩展和延伸。此理论认为反讽有两大特征,即“暗指先前期待或社会规范的违背”、“语用非真诚性”。本文根据言语反讽是否涉及真值条件和言外行为类型将小说语料分为两大类:阐述类反讽,不涉及“真”与“假”值的其他类反讽行为,如指令类反讽、承诺类反讽、表达类反讽。在语料分析过程中,文章深入探讨了如何通过话语中的“暗指”和“语用非真诚性”理解言语反讽的会话含义,以及反讽在具体语境中实现的语用功能,如对说话人自身和听话人面子的照顾、传达消极情感、加强组内亲密度、制造幽默感。由于本文涉及到反讽在语境中的理解,诸如在场的会话参与者及他们之间的权势、社会距离、情感等语境因素将纳入讨论中。本文结论是,“暗示伪装论”比“原则违背模型”和“回应提及论”两类反讽理论具有更大的优越性。此理论更少依赖于“言语反讽”的真值条件,对真实的阐述类反讽,以及不涉及真值条件违背的指令、承诺、表达类反讽行为提供了合理的解释;有助于鉴别说话人的话语意图和讽刺对象;强调了语境对言语反讽理解所起的重要作用,为反讽识别容易度差异提供了合理的解释;舍弃了传统的反讽与非反讽二分法,涵盖了不同程度的反讽。然而,“暗示伪装论”的描述力和解释力是有限的。首先,“暗示”和“语用非真诚性”并非是“言语反讽”识别的足够条件,听话人还需借助其他特征。其次,其他反讽识别线索的作用没得以阐释;再次,两大特征在“言语反讽”理解过程中的具体关系依然不够清楚。本文再次展示了语言学理论应用于文学评论的可行性和意义所在。总之,奥斯汀通过对人物讽刺性言语的描述刻画出了栩栩如生的人物性格,而本文对诸种反讽交际的分析使得读者能更好地解读话语的会话意义,以及作者所刻画人物的尖刻、幽默、机智、荒唐性。更多还原

【Abstract】 As one of the greatest writers in the world, Jane Austen exploits the art of irony supremely well. As to Pride and Prejudice, Austen’s most popular and perhaps the greatest novel, it is most typical in its profuse use of irony in the portrayal of characters. The present thesis makes a tentative application of Kumon-Nakamura’s allusional pretense theory to analyze examples of verbal irony in Pride and Prejudice, attempting to testify the descriptive and explanatory power of this theory, and to gain a deeper understanding of the theory as well as a detailed insight into the phenomenon of irony.Allusional pretense theory is a significant extension and elaboration of the violation based model and echoic-mention theory of irony. It proposes that irony has two features: allusion to a violated expectation or norm, and pragmatic insincerity. Based on whether the utterance involves any truth-value and the type of illocutionary acts involved, the ironic cases are divided into two broad categories in the thesis: assertive irony, and forms of irony involving no truth conditions, which then include directive irony, commisive irony and expressive irony.The thesis sets out to analyze how allusion and pragmatic insincerity can possibly be applied to the interpretation of verbal irony, and what the pragmatic functions of each ironical utterance are, e.g., face-saving for both speaker and hearer, conveying negative emotion, strengthening in-group solidarity, showing humor. As the present study is more concerned with the understanding of irony in context, such social factors as the power, distance and affection among the participants present are all accounted for in the data analysis.It is concluded that allusional pretense theory is far superior to both violation-based model and echoic mention theory in the interpretation of irony. Firstly, it depends less on the truth conditions of ironical utterances, providing plausible explanations for truthful assertions, and forms of irony that can not be judged as true or false, but sincere or insincere. Secondly, it makes it easier to identify speaker’s attitude, the pragmatic functions of irony, and the target of irony. Thirdly, it imparts contextual information with ever more importance in the interpretation of irony, and explains why some ironies are easier to interpret than others. Lastly, it has given up the traditional bi-division of irony and non-irony, and instead distinguishes irony of different degrees.However, allusional pretense theory still has some deficiencies. For example, the two features of irony, allusion and pragmatic insincerity, are insufficient features for the perception and interpretation of irony. Meanwhile, it fails to address the role of other ironic cues. Moreover, the exact relationship of the two features in the process of irony interpretation still remains unclear.The present thesis displays once again the possibility and significance of applying linguistic theory to literary criticism of Pride and Prejudice. In short, it is through Austen’s intelligent creation of those ironic interactions that the personality of the characters is brought to life vividly, while the present analysis of those ironic interactions enables the readers to have a deeper understanding of the conversational implicature inside, the whims, humor, wittiness and ridiculousness of the people she portrayed.更多还原