1、Application of Conversational Implicatures in Teaching English Audio-visual Course【Abstract】English audio-visual course is one of the main courses for the English learners. Many teachers have so much to improve students listening. But the effect has been unsatisfactory. What they often ignore is in
2、actual oral communication people do not always express themselves directly but tend to say something with implied meanings. As a result， students often fail to understand what the speaker indicates if they only focus on the literal meaning of utterance. This paper attempts to use the conversational
3、implication， to solve this problem in the teaching. Many points hard to understand in a certain conversation can be explained by the conversational implication theory. Therefore， the introduction to the basic knowledge of the conversational implicatures（CI） theory is strongly recommended to improve
4、the students listening conversation comprehension. ? 【Key words】English audio-visual course； conversational implication； conversation comprehension ? 1 Introduction? Although much attention has been devoted to English audio-visual course， the teaching effect has been unsatisfactory. What has led to
5、a central question in research is how to improve students listening comprehension by watching English movies. Thats just the case in English audio-visual course： however good ones listening skill may be， he can never make thorough comprehension if he gets the literal meaning. ? 2 Cooperative Princip
6、le and Conversational Implicatures? 2.1 What is Cooperative Principle? Grice believes there must be some mechanisms governing the production and comprehension of these utterances and that a set of assumptions guides the conduct of conversation. This is what he calls the Cooperative Principle： the ma
7、xim of quantity，the maxim of quality，the maxim of relation，the maxim of manner? 2.2 What is Conversational Implicature? Conversational implicature is something meant，implied，or suggested distinct from whats said. This notion is one of the most important ideas in pragmatics. Its a meaning in pragmati
8、cs different from the “meaning” in semantics which is the literal meaning. When the two meanings are different， conversational implicatures are made. For example：? （1）Doctor： I need to give you an anesthesia? Teddy： Do I look really that stupid? Doctor： I cannot do an operation like this without an
9、anesthesia? （from Prison Break）? Literally Teddys answer did not show any sign of rejection or acceptance of an anesthesia. His reply seems unrelated to the doctors words. But after a careful analysis， we can easily find he actually refused the doctor. His answer is an indirect way of refusal with s
10、tronger force. Conversations like this frequently appear in the movies. If teachers dont explain this to students， they may fail to understand them? 3 Application of Conversational Implicatures in English Audio-visual Course? In English movies， students were often confused by some seemingly strange
11、conversations. Lets take the commonest movies used in this course， Prison Break and Forrest Gump for example， and see how CI is applied in English audio-visual course? 3.1 Violation of the Maxim of Quantity and its Implicatures? The maxim of quantity prescribes the quantity of information transmitte
12、d when we are talking. So we should talk no more and no less. But violations are often found in the movies. For example：? （2） Abruzzi： When were you planning on telling us about the money， man? Scofield： What money? ? Abruzzi： $5 million that Westmoreland planted in the desert in Utah? Scofield： Don
13、?t know what you?re talking about? Abruzzi： You wish I didn?t know. ? Scofields answer is simple. It doesnt convey the information wanted by Abruzzi. This violates the maxim of quantity. It can be inferred that Scofield does not want to reveal any detail about the money. By saying “I dont know what
14、youre talking about.” he means “This is none of your business. I dont want you to know”? According to this movie， we know that Scofield wants to get the money secretly. Any detail about it cannot be revealed. So the violation of the maxim of quantity is necessary here? 3.2 Violation of the Maxim of
15、Quality and its Implicatures? The maxim of quality prescribes the authenticity of our speech. That means we cannot say what we believe to be false. For example：? （3） Jenny： Hey， Forrest， look at me. Look at me， Forrest. There?s nothing you need to do， okay? You didn?t do anything wrong. Ok? Isn?t he
16、 beautiful? Forrest： He?s the most beautiful thing I?ve ever seen. But. is， is he smart， or is he.? Jenny： He?s very smart. He?s one of the smartest in his class.? Forrests reply is false. By violating the maxim of quality， his implied meaning is “He is the most beautiful boy in my heart.” By using
17、this exaggerated expression “the most beautiful”， the love among them can be expressed. ? 3.3 Violation of the Maxim of Relation and its Implicatures? The maxim of relation prescribes that our speech should be relevant to the topic. For example：? （4） Doctor： Im sorry， sir， II dont think I can do thi
18、s. There are nerves. Look， you need a specialist， okay? You need somebody who knows what theyre doing? Teddy： I dont have the luxury of choice here， Doctor. My hand has been in that box for hours now， it is dying? Doctor： Sir， I am not capable of doing this? Teddy： I only have one hand， but I can st
19、ick this into your neck before you get to that door.? Doctor： Fine， but I can promise you nothing? （from Prison Break）? Teddy wants the doctor to make an operation， but the doctor indirectly refused. Teddy says something unrelated to their topic. It seems that he has violated the maxim of relation.
20、But the doctor knows his mother is old and sick， and Teddy can easily find her out and kill her if he does not do as he is told to. Thus he gets Teddys conversational implicature： do as I told you， if not， you and your mother will be in danger. ? 3.4 Violation of the Maxim of Manner and its Implicat
21、ures? The maxim of manner requires us to be perspicuous， and to avoid ambiguity and obscurity of expression. Violation of this maxim can convey certain implied meaning. We can explain this by using the example above? The doctor refuses to do the operation， but Teddy insists that his hand be grafted
22、immediately. In fact， the doctor can simply say “I cant do this.”， but instead， he says “I am not capable of doing this.” This has obviously violated the maxim of manner. ? 4 Suggestions for Teaching English Audio-visual Course? By learning the CI applied to conversations， we can understand movies b
23、etter. So students who wants to improve their listening need to get the real meaning hidden behind. Here are some suggestions for teachers. First， they should choose English movies carefully and explain the Cooperative Principle and conversational implicatures to students by using some examples. Sec
24、ond， teachers can motivate students when watching movies. If students meet some materials with conversational implicatures， teachers can help to associate them with their real life. Another suggestion is to combine listening with speaking and require students to practice after watching movies. In th
25、is way， students can learn the hidden meaning and understand better so as to improve their listening skill.? Bibliography：? 1Johnson， K. An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching M. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research， 2002? 2Grice. Logic and Conversation C. New York： Aca
26、demic， 1975? 3Horn， L. R. Towards a New Taxonomy for Pragmatic Inference： Q-based and R-based Implicature M. New York： Georgetown University.1984? 4Levinson， S.C. Pragmatics and the Grammar of Anaphora： a Partial Pragmatic Reduction of Binding and Control Phenomena J. Cambridge： Cambridge University 1987? 5何兆熊.语用学概要M.上海：上海外语教育出版社，1989? 6申小龙.语言学纲要M.上海：复旦大学出版社，2003? 7胡壮麟.语言学教程M.北京：北京大学出版社，2001? 8李娅林.会话含义与听力理解J.安徽工业大学学报，2003，第 05期? 9徐盛桓.会话含义理论的新发展J.现代汉语，1993，第 02期 ?作者简介：? 刘慧莹（1987.05） ，女，汉族，安徽阜阳人，硕士，现就职于武汉工程大学邮电与信息工程学院，主要从事语言教学和学习方面的研究。
