and to the Function of Context in Conversation

It is for a long time that linguists have set great store by the effectiveness of linguistic communication through the oral channel ª that is to say, our daily conversation. On account of the fact that these scholars regard linguistics, or to be more specific here, pragmatics, as a discipline stricter or more logical than any other one in social sciences or humanities, a strong impulse to generalize certain universal principles out of a huge variety of complex phenomena of our oral communication emerged, and has been exuberantly growing. Hence the theory of the Cooperative Principle.

As early as the 1960's, Grice has already propounded in Harvard his Cooperative Principle, with the definition as such: "Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged." He further worked four maxims in support of the principle by making it more concrete: 1.The Maxim of Quality: try to make your contribution one that is true, or one that has adequate evidence to testify to its very truth; 2. The

Attempts are necessary to be made to analyze the very causes that channel the floutings into a negative direction. For those native speakers, it can be assumed that there exists a strong impulse to express oneself on the part of the speaker. Under some circumstances, when the impulse escapes from the grip of the addresser's control, enthusiasm and eagerness to impart more dominates logic and sense, and the only matter that he is concerned about is to inform as much as possible, without paying enough heed to the clarity, orderliness, accuracy and effectiveness of the utterance. To summarize, he just becomes temporary blind to the context he should have, and could have noticed and understood. In this sense, it can be boldly suggested that people's mental condition should also be with the study of pragmatics. Whereas, for those foreigners, cultural differences and incompetence in using language are main obstacles to their correct understanding of temporal and local context. A mistake in using words or misreading meanings will negatively violate the principle, and disrupt the conveyance of information.

3. Kempson, R. (1975): Pragmatics, Cambridge Press, Cambridge

B's answering the question in a complete sentence might appear in second language textbooks. However, if it appears in native speakers' daily talk, a tone of impatience and boredom is looming at large.

It therefore can be concluded from the above example that the floutings of the Cooperative Principle are a two edged sword. The same violation of the Cooperative Principle that will terribly embarrass the speaker in one context, will also vastly enhance the quality of the talk in another context. Hence, the influences of the floutings upon Communicative Competence work in two opposite directions: one is in a positive way; the other a negative way. There is a strong connection between the violations of the Cooperative Principle and communicative competence, and context is the most decisive factor that determines the direction that the sword might thrust at.

During the short conversation, B's good intention cannot be doubted; however, it seems that his warmth is out of control. A long series of advice will but intrude the hearer's independence and personal business. In fact, "Take care of yourself. I hope you will get better soon." is enough to express B's concern. Still one more Example:

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Approximate Word count = 4738
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page double spaced)