ABSTRACT

With the increasingly rising status of China in the international community, the policies from the Chinese government have aroused more and more attention in the whole world. Government press conference is one significant way for outside world to know about the policies and decisions of China. The interpreters play the important role as message senders, cultural communicators and participants in diplomacy. 

Cooperative Principle, as proposed by Grice, an American linguist and philosopher, is a vital rule in guiding human conversations. It requires people to abide by its four conversational maxims, namely the quantity maxim, the quality maxim, the relation maxim and the manner maxim. Each category has its own meaning and requirement.

This thesis attempts to discuss the applicability of the Cooperative Principle in government press conference interpretation (GPCI) from the perspective of its feasibility of the observance of Cooperative Principle and reasonability of the violation of conversational maxims. A case study of Premier Li Keqiang’s government press conference interpretation in 2015 and 2016 is conducted, demonstrating the application of CP and the violation of conversational maxims in GPCI.  

Key Words: cooperative principle; government press conference interpretation; discourse analysis

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Researches on Cooperative Principle-3

2.1.1 Cooperative principle and its four maxims-4

2.1.2 Conversational implicature-5

2.2 Researches on Government Press Conference Interpretation-5

Chapter Three THE APPLICABILITY OF CP IN GOVERNMENT PRESS CONFERENCE INTERPRETATION-7

3.1 Feasibility of the Observance of Cooperative Principle-7

3.2 Reasonability of the Violation of Conversational Maxims-8

Chapter Four A CASE STUDY OF THE APPLICATION OF CP IN PREMIER LI’S PRESS CONFERENCE INTERPRETATION-13

4.1 Compliance with Cooperative Principle-13

4.1.1 Observance of the quantity maxim-13

4.1.2 Observance of the quality maxim-14

4.1.3 Observance of the relation maxim-15

4.1.4 Observance of the manner maxim-15

4.2 Violation of the Conversational Maxims-16

4.2.1 Violation of the quantity maxim-16

4.2.2 Violation of the quality maxim-17

4.2.3 Violation of the relation maxim-17

4.2.4 Violation of the manner maxim-18

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-19

REFERENCES-21