我在俄亥俄州立大学东亚语言研究所学习时,我的导师黎天睦(Timo thy Light)教授曾给我们研究生讲过一个故事。有一次他给一位朋友打电话,那朋友的一个小孩子接了电话。黎教授问:“你妈在吗?”那小孩子回答了一句:“她在。”便把电话挂断了。因为在那小孩子看来,他已经回答了黎教授的问题。但这小孩子实在年龄太小以致不能理解黎教授问孩子妈在不在不是一般的问话,而是一种请求:即请孩子的妈来听电话。这故事说明了我们在日常谈话时都遵守着一条格雷斯(Grice)提出的“合作原则”(1975)。却高蒂(Traugott)和帕拉脱(Pratt)给“合作原则”作了一个很通俗易懂的解释。她们说:“当人们在听其他人说话或和其他人说话时,都通常按照上下文来完成有目的而有效的交流”(1980)。却高蒂和帕拉脱还说了一个故事。这故事说农民甲的马病了,他知道农民乙的马也曾患过同样的病,就去请教农民乙,甲问乙在乙马病 When I was studying at the East Asian Language Institute at Ohio State University, my tutor, Professor Timo Th Light, told a story about our graduate students. Once he called a friend, a friend of that kid answered the phone. Professor Li asks, “Your mother is there?” The little child answered the sentence, “She is.” He hung up the phone. Because in that child’s opinion, he had already answered Professor Li’s question. However, this child is so young that he can not understand Professor Li’s mother asking what is not an ordinary question, but a request: that is, ask your child’s mother to listen to the phone. This story shows that we obey a “cooperative principle” (Grice) proposed by our daily conversation (1975). But Traugott and Pratt gave a very straightforward account of the “principle of cooperation.” They say: “When people listen to other people or speak to other people, they usually accomplish purposeful and effective communication according to the context” (1980). But Gaudy and Paladon also said a story. This story says Peasant A’s disease, and he knows peasant B’s horse had suffered the same disease, went to consult Peasant B, A asked B in the case of B