2　The Explanation of Linguistic Theories Concerned

It would be necessary to give a brief and clear illustration of the linguistic theories concerned in this study. In general, linguistics is the scientific study of language, which has begun to be applied more frequently in literary studies and three kinds of theories are applied in this book.

The first theory concerned is the cooperative principle proposed by Paul Grice, which is to make one's conversational contribution such as is required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which people are engaged. In Grice's opinion, there are a set of assumptions that guide the process of conversation, which can be regarded as some guidelines followed by people in efficient conversations. To better illustrate these assumptions, he proposes the four maxims: quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim, and manner maxim. According to Grice, the observance of the quality maxim is a matter of greater urgency than is the observance of others (qtd. in姜望琪, 2000). Other maxims can operate well on the condition that the maxim of quality is followed in the conversation. By observing these maxims, people should make sure that the information provided in the conversation be informative, true, relevant and clear. Although Grice proposes the cooperative principle and its maxims, in actual conversation, people will not always observe these maxims. Grice holds that it is not the case that people will follow these guidelines absolutely and completely, by which he means that in most ordinary kinds of conversations, these guidelines are observed. When the communication cannot go on smoothly according to their specifications, listeners assume that the principles are nevertheless followed at some deep level. Thus conversational implicature comes into being.

The second theory is the interpersonal metafunction theory. It is basically about the function of language, namely what people can do by using language. It is part of the knowledge of systemic-functional linguists, who distinguish three kinds of metafunction, namely ideational metafunction, interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction. According to Halliday, the interpersonal metafunction refers to the function of language for people to express social and personal relations, and to interact with each other as social beings. Thompson regards this function as using language to interact with other people, to establish and maintain relations with them, to influence their behaviors, to express our own viewpoints on things in the world, and to elicit or change others. This function is mainly realized by mood and modality (Halliday, 2000). The interpersonal function will be discussed carefully in the second chapter of this book.

The third one is the speech representation proposed by Leech. According to him, there are five kinds of speeches, namely free direct speech, direct speech, free indirect speech, indirect speech, and a mixed form somewhere between the two, narrative report of speech acts (Leech, 2001). Among them, direct speech and indirect speech are the most essential. Direct speech quotes what one exactly speaks, while indirect speech just expresses what is said in one's own words. One can easily convert a direct speech into an indirect one, but cannot convert an indirect speech into the original direct speech. Leech believes there is a cline of speech presentation, which moves along from the more bound to the freer end. The narrator interferes less and less until in the version of free direct speech, he obviously frees the characters to talk entirely on their own.

In conclusion, the cooperative principle is to guide the smooth communication between people, whose application and violation can influence human relations. Its analysis contributes to the understanding of the character and the novel on the whole. The second theory of the interpersonal metafunction generalizes the linguistic clues for realizing different social and personal relations, which can be applied to examining how characters in the novel use the language tools in interaction. While the speech representation is a grammatical and textual means to depict the characters and their personal relations, thus its study can help with the shaping of interpersonal relationship. These linguistic theories are effective in the appreciation and criticism of the literary language and will be applied as guidance and tools to delve into the art and value of Jane Austen's language.