Analysis of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle in Desperate Housewives

【Abstract】Desperate Housewives is a very famous family ethics drama in America. In Desperate Housewives， there are many conversations which are concerned with pragmatics. Therefore， this paper aims to find out and dig out the pragmatic phenomena in Desperate Housewives from a new angle. To achieve this goal， the author combines Cooperative Principle with Politeness Principle to analyze the conversations in Desperate Housewives.

【Key words】Desperate Housewives； Cooperative Principle； Politeness Principle

【作者簡介】杨菲，现就读于西安外国语大学英文学院2018级外国语言学及应用语言学专业，硕士研究生，研究方向：应用语言学。

1. Introduction

Desperate Housewives is a very famous family ethics drama in America， which is directed by Larry Shaw and David Grossman. The TV play is trying to dig out people’s secrets and reveal four housewives’ unhappy marriage which seems to be perfect superficially. Better understanding of Grice’s Cooperative Principle and Leech’s Politeness Principle can contribute to smooth conversations. Because of the eminence of Desperate Housewives， some scholars have studied on it. However， nearly no scholar has combined Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle to analyze the TV series. In order to deeply understand the pragmatic phenomenon in Desperate Housewives， the author combines Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle to analyze the conversations.

2. Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle

2.1 Cooperative Principle

According to Grice， there is a set of over-arching assumptions guiding the conduct of conversation. Grice identifies as guidelines of this sort four basic maxims of conversation or general principles underlying the efficient co-operative use of language， which jointly express a general co-operative principle （Stephen C. Levinson， 2001：101-102）. These principles are described as the follows.

（1）The maxim of Quality； （2）The maxim of Quantity； （3）The maxim of relevance； （4）The maxim of manner.

2.2 Politeness Principle

According to Leech （1983）， there is a politeness principle with conversational maxims. He lists 6 maxims： Tact-generosity； approbation-modesty； agreement and sympathy； Leech （1983：132） focuses on this component in his conceptualization of politeness， and specifies the following maxims： （1）Tact Maxim； （2）Generosity Maxim； （3）Approbation Maxim； （4）Modesty Maxim； （5）Agreement Maxim； （6）Sympathy Maxim.

3. The supplementation of Politeness Principle to Cooperative Principle in Desperate Housewives

Politeness Principle supplements Cooperative Principle. If the speaker violates Cooperative Principle， he is likely to obey Politeness Principle.

Example 1： Gabrielle： You are right， Ellie. My husband was totally inappropriate. So a class？ Are you a teacher？

Ellie： Actually， I’m an art student. My life was working pretty well， and so I decided to junk it. And learn how to paint fruit. It’s， uh， stupid， right？

Gabrielle： No， it’s gutsy.This conversation occurred in the fourteen episode of the fourth season in Desperate Housewives， and it is a conversation between Gabrielle and Ellie. The background is that Ellie wanted to rent Gabrielle and Carlos’ house.

Gabrielle asked Ellie if she was a teacher. However， Ellie said she was a student， and told the reason， and said she was stupid. Obviously， her answer violated the maxim of quantity of Cooperative Principle， because she was not required to give a detailed explanation of the reasons that she was a student. She added that she was stupid to do that， she obeys the modesty maxim of Politeness Principle， because she tried to maximize the dispraise of herself. In this conversation， although Ellie violated the maxim of Cooperative Principle， she obeys the maxim of Politeness Principle. What’s more， Ellie used the word “junk” to describe her previous life. She obeys the modesty maxim of Politeness Principle， she tried to minimize the praise of herself and maximize the dispraise of herself， which makes her more polite. Actually， she violated the maxim of quality of Cooperative Principle， because her previous life was working well， and comfortable.

4. Conclusion

Politeness Principle can supplement Cooperative Principle. If the speaker violates Cooperative Principle， he is likely to obey Politeness Principle in that the speaker wants to be more polite. Bettering understanding of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle can help us know the intention of the speaker， which will contribute to successful communication.

References：

[1]Leech， Geoffrey N. Principles of Pragmatics[M].London： Longman，1983：132.

[2]Stephen C. Levinson. Pragmatics[M].Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2001：101-102.