文学分析
Research on dialogue effect
InLinguistics aspect,
Researchon dialogue effect in DesperateHousewives
1.conversationalimplicature on Desperate Housewives
Conversationalimplicature is a type of implied meaning, deduced on conventional meaning underthe guidance of the CP and its maxims. In Desperate Housewives, focused onlife-like American community, is characterized by numerous usage ofconversational implicature that strengthens plot appeal. Conversationalimplicature is mainly express by the form of speech. Therefore, to research theform of speech is the priority to illustrate the conversational implicature.
2.Ostensive communication on Desperate Housewives
Comparedwith conversational implicature, ostensive communicationpay more attention on the mechanism of linguistic. That is, communicationis not simply a matter of encoding and decoding, it also involves inference onthe part of the hearer and ostension.
3.The examples and analysis
Example1 (metaphor)
Renee:Oh, Doug screw up a lot, but his apologies are always the 4th ofJuly.
Whyis “apology” related to “the 4th of July”? Actually the day, 4Thof July is the national day in America, is supposed to be cerebrated all overthe country. In this dialogue, it means Doug is good at entertaining others.Women will be as happy as in National Day. Instead of expressing its meaningdirectly, it conveys the application of conversational implicature to sublimatesuch conversation.
Example2 (metaphor)
John:I can see the family resemblance.
Calos:She is my niece.
John:It must’ve been a windy day when the apple fell off that tree.
Hereis the background. There was an affair between Gaby and John many years ago, soJohn and Calos, Gaby’s husband, are rivals in love as regarded. Theyencountered each other at restaurant. John had considered Anna as Gray’s nieceto compliment her beauty, however, Anna actually is a niece of Calos. John useda metaphor to express that Anna doesn’t look like Calos so as to satirize hisugliness. This metaphor successfully practice the conversational implicature tomake the conversation wise, humorous and funny, play an important role on thecomedy effect.
Example3 (pun)
Bree:Well, it’s just that she’s so… cheap. She’s beneath you.
Karl:Not yet, but she will be.
Itis doubtless that this conversation is a typical application of ostensivecommunication. “Beneath” is a pun word, one meaning is “not good enough for”,the other is “under somebody or something in space. Bree meant that Edie wasnot good enough for Karl, but Karl deliberately misunderstood her meaning,expressed that he would have an affair with Edie. Ostensive communication paymore attention on the mechanism of linguistic, this pun word offers differentinterpretation, profoundly describe characters’ psychological activities andsharp their characteristic.
Example4 (pun)
Bree:Sorry, I’m late. I had three parties to prepare for.
Susan:How tiring that must be for you, judging all those affairs.
Inhere again, “affairs” is a pun word to reflect ostensive communication. “Affair”can refer to work, things as well as an illicit sexual relationship.Apparently, Susan used “affair” to express latter meaning so as to express heranger and sarcasm. In addition, it express this meaning in an euphemistic way,thereby content with the principle of
Example5 (personification)
Calos:You’d rather scrub the toilets than teach your daughter?
Gaby:Well, at least the toilet won’t talk back.
It’sone of the most interesting personification in Desperate Housewives. For my perspective, personification could bea typical application for both conversational implicature and ostensivecommunication. For this instance, Gaby would hire a home teacher rather than teachher daughter at home. She personified the toilets, then expressed her unwilling(conversational implicature) in a humorous and vivid way (ostensivecommunication).
Example6 (allusion)
Susan:He got a little aggressive. I had to use my taser. Part of my was like:” zip!And that’s for ‘Beowulf’!”
Beowulfis the legend hero in ancient epic of western countries. Susan here useallusion to express her courage and determination. In this conversation, theusage of allusion is a reflection of conversational implicature and ostensive communication. Above all, it acquired historicalbackground and cultural understanding to use allusion. If understood, it isdefinite to increase more connotation of conversation.
Conclusion
Thisessay discuss some figure of speech on Desperate Housewives. With thisexamples, it would be understood that figure of speech is not only forincreasing expressive force of language, but also the practical application oflinguist principle such as conversational implicature and ostensivecommunication. In addition, this essay illustrates some personal interpretationof these principle, thereby foster myself the awareness academic research onLinguistics.