Chapter One Cooperative Principle in Male-Female Relationship in Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about how the heroine Elizabeth Bennet and the hero Fitzwilliam Darcy overcome various obstacles resulting from their own defects and other people's interference to find their true love and get married．This novel is one of Austen's favorite works and is not only appreciated by its reader, but by today's television and films, and it is well-known as “light ＆ bright and sparkling”by Jane Austen herself (Todd, 2008：26)．Austen thinks the novel is so bright that it may need some shade．It is a novel about love and also about the exploration of male and female relationship in marriage and out of marriage．There is a big cast, including four pairs of married couple, ten unmarried ladies and four unmarried gentlemen．If the men in the army are all counted, there will be a larger number．In the novel, Jane Austen demonstrates various relationships between males and females, such as Mr．and Mrs．Bennet, Elizabeth and Mr．Collins, Elizabeth and Mr．Darcy, and Jane and Mr．Bingley．Some relationships are based on money and wealth, while others are related to virtues and morals．Austen's greatness lies in her acceptance of the disharmonious male-female relationship as a kind of reality and her pursuit for an equal and harmonious one．She doesn't hate the inequality or disharmony, accepting them as human need for existence and as a foil to the harmonious relationship based on understanding and self-discipline．In the representation of different male-female relationships, Austen employs a lot of truthful and apt conversations to depict her characters who are like real people in the world, obeying the social rules of speech or violating them on different grounds.
Social rules of speeches are of great interest to linguistics, among whom the famous British educated linguist and philosopher Paul Grice studies daily conversations and proposes the cooperative principle (Grice, 2002)．This principle is based on the assumption that speech is act, namely language can do things．Linguists claim that people say something in order to do something else, which means the pragmatic analysis of language can be broadly understood to be the investigation into the aspect of meaning which is derived not from the formal properties of words and construction, but from the way in which utterances are used and how they relate to the context in which they are uttered (Leech, 2001)．When people say something, they aim to perform three acts simultaneously, locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act．Locutionary act refers to the speaking of the exact words or the literal meaning of one's speech．Illocutionary act is the purpose of the speaking, such as asking, requesting, declaring, commanding, promising, warning, and so on．Perlocutionary act means the effect of the speaking on the listener, who may either satisfy or dissatisfy the speaker's intention．Since speech is used to do things, Grice proposed the famous cooperative principle which is shortened as CP and its maxims in his paper Logic and Conversation, in which he suggests that in daily communication, people must be cooperative if they want to keep smooth and harmonious relationship．The requirement 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 one is engaged (Cole ＆ Morgan, 1975)．In Grice's opinion, there are a set of assumptions that guide the process of conversation, and they can be regarded as some guidelines followed by people in efficient conversation．To better illustrate these assumptions, he proposes the four maxims, namely the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation, and the maxim of manner．In a word, these maxims specify what people have to do in order to lead the conversation in a cooperative and effective way．They should make sure that the information provided in the conversation be informative, true, relevant and clear.
This chapter is devoted to the application of the cooperative principle to the analysis of conversations in male-female relationship in Pride and Prejudice．The prominence of dialogues in the novel is quite obvious, “with the opening two sentences of witty judgment of marriage being followed immediately by the lively dialogue between Mr．and Mrs．Bennet．And almost three fourths of the novel is composed of conversations”(Gill ＆ Gregory, 2003：5)．As the analysis of conversations in daily communication, the principle can be used to interpret how Austen's command of conversations and speech rules function to demonstrate various male-female relationships in the novel．This chapter consists of two parts．The first part examines how the application of the cooperative principle contributes to the depiction of the characters and the enlightenment of the harmony between men and women．The second part focuses on how the violation of the cooperative principle reveals the disharmony in male-female relationship in the novel.
1 Application of CP in the Realization of Diverse Collaboration
Pride and Prejudice is about marriage and the relationships between male and female, which are the perpetual theme in Jane Austen's novels．It can be also called a novel of diverse collaboration between men and women, which implies relationships of marriage, family and friendship．Marriage itself is the most important collaboration between men and women, who are engaged to the social and personal commitment and contract (苏友芬, 2010)．They must adjust themselves to the integrity of marriage．Family is the collaboration between parents and children who have their own way of dealing with each other．Male-female friendship needs mutual understanding and special efforts since women in the 18th century were generally regarded as being inferior and untalented．These relationships between men and women are represented by different ways of collaboration, which are governed by social norms．Pride and Prejudice portrays these relationships in a realistic flavor, in which its characters just follow the same social norms as people in the factual world．The novel portrays individuals negotiating personal needs with external social demands and internalized moral codes：using manners to control or mask inevitable egoism, they manipulate talk to gratify themselves (Todd, 2008)．When characters interact, they will follow certain principles; therefore, they can meet the external social demands and make their moral and thoughts revealed to each other．In general, the diverse collaboration between men and women is governed by the application of the cooperative principle consciously or unconsciously in Austen's fiction.
The cooperative principle is proposed as the rule for people to obey in communication, which has the following connotations．First, speech is act, and one does action by speaking．The cooperative principle requires the cooperation of speeches in verbal communication．Second, in order to have smooth interaction and harmonious relationship, the speakers often observe the rule by telling the truth, giving adequate information, and talking about relevant things in an orderly way．They will certainly follow it to shape their positive relationships and enhance mutual understanding and affection．Third, there are four maxims which are proposed, namely the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner．The application of the cooperative principle and its maxims reflects different psychological and subconscious behaviors．In a word, it will help represent the genuine compromise and understanding between men and women.
This part aims to explore the language features in the representation of diverse male-female cooperation by means of the application of the cooperative principle, and it is composed of two sections．Section one studies how the cooperation of speeches function in favorable male-female relationship．Section two illustrates how the four conversational maxims show the mutual understanding between males and females in Pride and Prejudice．This part endeavors to testify that the application of CP may represent Jane Austen's art of language in the novel.
1.1 Cooperation of Speeches in Principled Compromise
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice depicts principled compromise between men and women which refers to negotiation based on human material and psychological needs．On one hand, it demonstrates individual search for dream and spiritual hope．On the other hand, it indicates the pressure from reality and material need．This section aims to illustrate how the cooperation of speeches operates in principled compromised in male-female relationship of the novel.
The cooperation of speeches lies in the function of language to perform acts besides stating the facts and communicating ideas．People can use their words to do things or ask others to do things．By saying “the class is over”, a teacher is “dismissing the class”．By saying “good bye”or “thank you”, students in his class are showing their cooperation of speeches．The utterance of a speech can perform three acts at the same time, namely lucutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act (何自然, 1997)．Locutionary act refers to the speaking of the exact words or the literal meaning of one's speech．Illocutionary act is the purpose of the speaking, such as asking, requesting, declaring, commanding, promising, warning, and so on．Perlocutionary act means the effect of the speaking on the listener, which may either be consistent or inconsistent with the speaker's intention．When the perlocutionary act is consistent with the speaker's intention, namely, the speaker does what he aims to do and achieves his purpose, the cooperation of speeches come into being．Last but not least, the performance of a speech act has its “felicity conditions”ranging from speakers' relationship to the utterance context (Austin, 1962：14)．The fulfillment of the felicity conditions is important for the performance of a certain speech act．This section intends to study the functions of cooperation of speeches in the representation of the agreement and harmony between males and females in Pride and Prejudice.
In the first place, the cooperation of speeches indicates the social pressure from material needs．The characters exhibit cooperation in their speeches and perform speech acts out of the need for safety and social status.A case in point is the description of Mr．Collins and Charlotte's engagement：
In as short a time as Mr．Collins's long speeches would allow, everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both; (Austen, 1992：85; my italics)
As can be indicated from the example, Mr．Collins uses “long speeches”, which performs three acts at the same time．The lucutionary act is the utterance of exact words, which are omitted and must have been filled with tedious and serious content, which Jane Austen just uses a few words to conclude and creates irony on them．The illocutionary act is the purpose of speaking, namely Mr．Collins's aim to propose and name the day．Finally the perlocutionary act is the effect of the speech on the listener, which is Charlotte's acceptance of the proposal implied in “settled”and “the satisfaction”．Therefore, the perlocutionary act is consistent with Mr．Collins's intention, which means the cooperation of speeches．The cooperation is closely related to the felicity conditions, which concerns Mr．Collins and Charlotte's material needs．Mr．Collins, who is eager to find any lady to marry for his position in his parish, wishes his future wife to be gentle and obedient．He regards women as objets d'art, namely charming, elegant female, and holds no respect for them as rational beings (Gill ＆ Gregory, 2003)．However, it's ironic that he chooses Charlotte, who is very rational．Charlotte, who doesn't think highly of either men or matrimony, is willing to marry for a home and takes marriage as an object．She regards marriage as “the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want”(Austen, 1992：85)．Therefore they have common interest in building a marital relationship．The man who wants a lady as wife for his status and the lady who wants a gentleman for a home arrange their marriage as a fair trade．The cooperation in their speeches indicates the social requirements for men's responsibility and status and the social needs for women's safety and position．Consciously or unconsciously, Jane Austen's characters show cooperation of speeches to reveal the heavy burden from the present society.
In the second place, the cooperation of speeches embodies the pressure from marriage, which is based on the sacrifice of one side or both sides．As can be illustrated in the union of Mr．Collins and Charlotte, the happy marriage is superficial and temporary at the sacrifice of Charlotte's spiritual life．The following dialogue between the newly-wed when Elizabeth is invited to visit the new home can be a good example to show the pressure：
“Yes, Miss Elizabeth, you will have the honor of seeing Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church……Her behavior to my dear Charlotte is charming．[……] Her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us．I should say, one of her ladyship's carriages, for she has several.”
“Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed,”added Charlotte, “and a most attentive neighbor.”(Austen, 1992：108; my omission)
In the above example, the first quotation of Mr．Collins performs three acts simultaneously.The locutionary act is the actual words spoken which are full of his snobbery and self-superiority．On one hand, he speaks of arrogant Lady Catherine with flattery and admiration; on the other hand, he displays the honor she gives to his family, which looks quite ironic to Elizabeth．The illocutionary act is the purpose of showing off his happy life and marriage．He boasts his social position and privilege, which is also an attempt to depress Elizabeth who previously refused his proposal．The perlocutionary act is the effect of his speech on the listeners, which is Charlotte's agreement with his praise of Lady Catherine．It can be concluded that the perlocutionary act is in favor of Mr．Collins and the cooperation of speeches has been achieved．For the cooperation between Charlotte and Mr．Collins, there are felicity conditions which presuppose it in their speeches and are concerned with the speakers' marital relations．The marriage in itself determines their cooperation and relationship which seems quite harmonious with mutual understanding and respect．Heavily burdened with marital duty, Charlotte is supposed to be compatible and supportive of her husband, which is realized in the cooperation in their speeches．However, when her intimate friend Elizabeth gives her an expressive look, her occasional blush reveals her inner feelings of shame and regret for a stupid and shallow husband．Her marriage is based on their common idea of utilitarianism, which proposes that the worth of any action should be judged by its effects．When the action receives pleasure, it is good; while the action receives pain, it's supposed to be bad．Their marriage can be measured by the effects．For Charlotte, it's a comfortable home and a stable future．For Mr．Collins, it's a wife and a decent family．The harmony in her marriage is at the sacrifice of Charlotte's spiritual satisfaction, which is a kind of principled compromise between men and women.
In the third place, the cooperation of speeches demonstrates the search for individual value under great social pressure.Men and women with common interests can be good friends who encourage each other in difficulty, however out of social and personal restrictions, they also submit to adversity in reality．The following conversation between Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam is a good case in point：
“In my opinion, the younger son of an Earl can know very little of either．Now, seriously, what have you ever known of self-denial and dependence？When have you been prevented by want of money from going wherever you chose, or procuring anything you had a fancy for？”
“These are home questions—and perhaps I cannot say that I have experienced many hardships of that nature．But in matters of greater weight, I may suffer from the want of money．Younger sons cannot marry where they like.”(Austen, 1992：124125)
In the above conversation, the first quotation is Elizabeth's speech which performs three acts．The first act is the locutionary act of the utterance of her exact words, including the information it contains and the direct and informal tone between intimate friends．The second is the illocutionary act, which is her purpose of asking questions and blaming Colonel Fitzwilliam's dependence on others．She also aims to sneer at him by speaking of the sensitive and private affairs openly．The third one is the perlocutionary act which concerns his open answer and patient explanation．He doesn't blame her for the rudeness, however he endeavors to earn her sympathy and understanding, which shows his cooperation in their interaction．Since the perlocutionary act shows consistency with Elizabeth's intention, the cooperation is achieved, which can also be found many times in the novel and the above example is just a small version of a much longer dialogue.
What's more, Colonel Fitzwilliam's cooperation results from the fulfillment of the felicity conditions, which are closely knitted with their intimacy and social pressure．Although they just meet each other several times, they have been better acquainted than others as they have a lot of ideas and interests in common．They have formed very close friendship which allows some private questions included in the above example．What's more, they have similar inferior social positions, Elizabeth being a countryside gentleman's daughter without much dowry, and Colonel Fitzwilliam being a younger son without the right of inheritance．Therefore it is rather easy for them to understand each other．On one hand, Elizabeth sneers at his ideas of self-denial and dependence．On the other hand, they have to submit to the restriction of wealth and status．The cooperation in their speeches represents their weak struggle for individual value in face of the cruel society.
The above analysis proves that the cooperation of speeches in Pride and Prejudice is able to illustrate the principled compromise between men, women and the society．The compromise is represented by the consistence between illocutionary act and perlocutionary act, and the felicity conditions for the performance of speech acts as well．The cooperation of speeches shows the influence of social pressure on men and women who cooperate for the sake of material needs．It also exhibits the marital force which requires a couple to support each other even at the sacrifice of personal interests．Finally, it indicates the compromise between male-female friends who achieve mutual understanding but have to submit to the crude reality．In general, the cooperation in language demonstrates both the individual search and the social pressure.
1.2 Application of the Four Maxims in Genuine Understanding
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen presents genuine understanding between men and women, which is the mutual respect and approbation regardless of differences in wealth, status or other social factors．There is true love and care between those who judge people by their virtue instead of wealth, and by their mind instead of appearance．This part selects two pairs of men and women to illustrate the phenomenon, which are Darcy and Elizabeth, Elizabeth and Mr．Bennet．Despite their different social positions, Darcy and Elizabeth regard each other as being equal in intelligence and morality and show respect to each other．Tony Tanner concludes that Jane Austen shows readers energy and reason coming together, not so much as reconciliation of opposites, but as marriage of complementaries (Tanner, 1986)．Their marriage is not painful compromise, but a happy one of genuine understanding．The second pair discussed is Elizabeth and Mr．Bennet．As daughter and father, they enjoy genuine understanding and respect．As an intelligent gentleman by birth, Mr．Bennet is unhappy and dissatisfied with his marriage and life as he has married for beauty and his wife is of low intelligence．There is no one in the family who understands him except his favorite daughter Elizabeth who is his equal in the wit, humor and intelligence (Nash, 1980)．He treats Elizabeth differently and the father-daughter relationship is harmonious．There is harmony between men and women who possess good understanding and high intelligence．Most of their interaction lies in their conversations, which are concerned with certain social and linguistic rules to be observed in the representation of harmonious relationships.
The social or linguistic rules can be explained by the cooperative principle and its four maxims established by H．P．Grice, who argues that when one abides by the cooperative principle one agrees to act according to various conversational rules, or rather conversational maxims (Grice, 2002)．He has put forward four conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relevance and manner．The speaker must tell the truth, give adequate information, say relevant things, and be in an orderly way．The application of the four maxims illustrates the harmony in male-female relations and facilitates their mutual affection and their relationship of equality and respect.
In the first place, the observation of the maxim of quantity underlines the speaker's willingness to make further communication and to build up understanding in interaction．The maxim of quantity requires the speaker to provide the information which should be as informative as is required, but not more informative than is required．In other words, enough information should be given and the redundancy should be avoided．The following extract is a conversation between Elizabeth and Darcy when Elizabeth realizes her prejudice against Darcy and feels regretful for her previous rude attitude towards Darcy．When she meets with Darcy unexpectedly in his garden the other time, she becomes less prejudiced：
After a short silence, the lady first spoke．She wished him to know that she had been assured of his absence before she came to the place, and accordingly began by observing, that his arrival had been very unexpected—“for your housekeeper,”she added, “informed us that you would certainly not be here till tomorrow.”[……] He acknowledged the truth of it all; and said that business with his steward had occasioned his coming forward a few hours before the rest of the party with whom he had been travelling．(Austen, 1992：171; my omission)
In the above example, both Elizabeth and Darcy observe the maxim of quantity to indicate their sincerity to build up a harmonious relationship．Firstly, since silence is the sign of failure in providing information, Elizabeth observes the maxim by speaking of the reason for her visiting Darcy's garden to break the silence and explain her presence．By doing so her kindness and gratitude are represented so that Darcy dares to guess she has forgiven him．The very word “add”, which is carefully chosen, implies Elizabeth's consideration to supplement enough information so as to keep the listener Darcy from misinterpreting her meaning．Secondly, Darcy observes the maxim by responding to the question very politely and explaining his unexpected return．He casts away his proudness and indifference, answering briefly and giving enough information．In this way, they both show the willingness to be cooperative; therefore they follow the cooperative principle and the maxim of quantity by providing enough information so as to create a kind of harmonious phenomenon．They are as open and friendly as to make this conversation friendly, easy and successful, which provides another chance for their later meeting and further understanding．Only when they have mutual affection and respect, will they be willing to observe the maxim．This conversation marks the turn of their relationship which turns out to be filled with equality and mutual respect．Just as Austen wrote in the next chapter, “of the lady's sensations they remained a little in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was evident enough”(Austen, 1992：174)．There is not much depiction of their thoughts, yet their language and their application of the maxim reveal their true feeling going underneath the brief and smooth conversation．In their interaction, they neither give too much information to mislead each other, nor provide too little information to fail the other's expectation．The observance of the maxim of quantity facilitates their communication and relationship.
The observation of the maxim of quantity also exhibits equality and respect between men and women, which can be shown in the dialogue between Mr．Bennet and Elizabeth．When Lydia elopes with Wickham stupidly, Mr．Bennet and Elizabeth try their best to solve the scandal and help them get married：
“Oh, Papa, what news？What news？Have you heard from my uncle？”
“Well, I have had a letter from him by express.”(Austen, 1992：203)
The above dialogue looks quite simple, but it represents Mr．Bennet's observation of the maxim of quantity by answering Elizabeth's question and giving enough information to make her understand the present situation．Elizabeth's question is answered by her father Mr．Bennet, which looks simple but meaningful compared with his attitude towards the other members of their family．When Mrs．Bennet asks questions, Mr．Bennet always ignores them．However, his observance of the maxim of quantity reveals his respect and trust for his daughter Elizabeth．As a father, he regards her as equal with intelligence and sense, and respects her opinions in family events．By observing the maxim of quantity, they are cooperative and interactive by providing sufficient information, which is free from misinterpretation or doubt．This represents the equality and respect between men and women who emphasize the value of intelligence and mutual understanding.
In the second place, the application of the maxim of quality produces trust and respect between interlocutors．The maxim has two conditions, the first one being not to say what one believes to be false, and the second being not to say what one lacks adequate evidence．This maxim suggests that the speaker should not offer whatever he believes to be false or anything that he does not have adequate evidence for (姜望琪, 2000)．The observance of the quality maxim is of greater importance than the other three．The following dialogue is a case in point which takes place between Elizabeth and Darcy when a scandal happens that Lydia and Wickham have eloped：
“I'm grieved, indeed,”cried Darcy; “grieved-shocked．But is it certain, absolutely certain？”
“Oh yes！”—“They left Brighton together on Sunday night, and were traced almost to London, but not beyond; they are certainly not gone to Scotland.”
“And what has been done, what has been attempted, to recover her？”
“My father is gone to London, and Jane has written to beg my uncle's immediate assistance, and we shall be off, I hope, in half an hour．But nothing can be done; I know very well that nothing can be done．How is such a man to be worked on？How are they even to be discovered？I have not the smallest hope．It is every way horrible！”(Austen, 1992：184)
In the above extract, both Elizabeth and Darcy observe the maxim of quality, who are cooperative by telling the truth and giving information that they have adequate evidence．Firstly, Darcy's cry contains his sincere concern and grief．By choosing the word “indeed”, he emphasizes the sincerity in his speech adequately．It is his sincerity that gains Elizabeth's trust and reliance．Next, Elizabeth observes the maxim of quality by answering Darcy's questions honestly．She is so honest that she answers the embarrassing questions about the details of her family scandal and reveals her inner sorrow and regret．Darcy asks whether anything has been done to “discover”the eloped couple, and then Elizabeth answers with a series of verbs and nouns including “go, write, beg, assistance, off”．The word “discover”includes “go, write, beg, assistance, off”, which forms the relationship of hyponym and implies the different ways to find out the eloped couple．Elizabeth just answers Darcy's question by supplying detailed and sufficient information, because she believes in Darcy, which makes it possible for him to realize the whole affair and finally finds the way to solve the scandal．Her observation of the maxim represents the trust in and reliance on Darcy．This cooperation in the talk represents their harmonious relationship based on common virtue．Darcy has a high sense of morality, feeling morally responsible for his silence in Wickham's bad conduct．He chooses a strong word “duty”to describe his plan to minimize the effect of the elopement．As a paragon of virtues, Elizabeth is so careful as to consult Jane whether they should disclose Wickham's degeneration when she first hears of it．She believes that the disclosure made in private is not intended for broadcasting and it will make it impossible for Wickham to reform and her moral reason prevents her from disclosing the evil nature of Wickham．Their observation of the maxim of quality reveals their mutual trust and love regardless of social boundaries and biases.
The maxim of quality is also observed to demonstrate the equality and sincerity between men and women of different ages or status．This can be illustrated in the relationship between Elizabeth and his father Mr．Bennet who never shows dominance or superiority over the daughter．In the following extract, he doesn't blame her or tries to demand her to make bitter choices; on the contrary he tends to share his secret remorse as a bitter lesson with Elizabeth：
“I do, I do like him,”she replied, with tears in her eyes, “I love him．Indeed he has no improper pride．He is perfectly amiable．You do not know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by speaking of him in such terms.”
“Lizzy,”said her father, “I have given him my consent．[……] Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage．You could scarcely escape discredit and misery．My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life．You know not what you are about.”(Austen, 1992：253; my omission)
Both Elizabeth and her father are cooperative by revealing their inner thought and genuine feeling, which is a typical sign of the observance of the maxim of quality．At the beginning, Elizabeth tells her true love for Darcy and the reason for accepting his proposal．In order to reinforce the credibility, she applies the auxiliary “do”, the adverbs “indeed”and “perfectly”to her speech．And then, Mr．Bennet confides to her his disappointment in marriage, which he has never explicitly expressed to anyone else．In order to benefit his daughter, he exposes himself to the bitter experience of the grief of being unable to respect his partner in life．All in all, Elizabeth's sincere presentation of her love and Mr．Bennet's genuine recollection of his experience impress each other with equality and sincerity, and both of them are rewarded with respect and understanding．By sticking to the maxim of quality, they quickly achieve agreement and harmony despite of former misunderstanding.
In the third place, the application of the maxim of relation symbolizes common interest and reached agreement between men and women, which facilitates their harmonious relationship．The maxim requires speakers to be relevant, which indicates that speakers should make whatever they say relevant to the current communication．At the same time, the information provided should entitle listeners to determine its meaning based on the assumption that all things are related to the subtle theme through using the context of communication．The common interest represented by its application can be indicated in the interaction between Elizabeth and Darcy：
After a short time, Darcy added, “You [……] My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”
Elizabeth [……] though not very fluently, gave him to understand, that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure, his present assurances．(Austen, 1992：246; my omission)
In the above dialogue, Elizabeth follows the maxim of relation by giving the relevant answer to Darcy．As shy as Darcy, Elizabeth answers his proposal not very fluently, but very clearly and relevantly, which saves Darcy from misunderstanding and confirms their love．There are also linguistic hints of the observance of the maxim．The phrase “my affections”in Darcy's speech is coherent with the one “his present assurances”in Elizabeth's sentence, both referring to Darcy's love for Elizabeth．And “tell”in Darcy's speech and “receive”in Elizabeth's are coherent and relevant．Darcy would like Elizabeth to “tell”him her feeling, while Elizabeth “receives”his proposal．Elizabeth's answer is so relevant that she has caught this opportunity to drive away their misinterpretation resulting from pride and prejudice．Owing to her brightness and courage, she observes the maxim of relevance to save their relationship．There is also a great need for her to do so because of the former misunderstanding and misery resulting from their own violation of the maxims of CP, which makes their communication difficult and distorted．In the novel, they finally achieve mutual understanding and affection owing to the efforts of Darcy's aunt, who does her best to destroy the relationship yet its effects have been exactly contrariwise．In the above extract, both Elizabeth and Darcy regard this conversation as the last opportunity to solve all the misinterpretation．In a word, the observation of the maxim demonstrates their common wish for genuine understanding and mutual love, which has generated their union of marriage．Their marriage is not painful compromise but a comfortable one of complementation.
The agreement indicated by the observation of the maxim of relevance can be illustrated in the dialogue between Elizabeth and her father Mr．Bennet as well．When Elizabeth asks whether her father has any other objection towards her marriage with Darcy, Mr．Bennet replies happily, “None at all．We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him”(Austen, 1992：253)．In his speech, Mr．Bennet observes the maxim of relation by answering the question directly with “Not at all”, which is the related information．For yes-no questions, the most relevant and desired answer is “yes”or “no”．Elizabeth and Mr．Bennet have composed themselves and have achieved consensus in the happy marriage．In fact, they are mutual advisors to each other, who will consult each other until they can reach final agreement whenever there is confusion．The father and daughter are quite alike in this sense.
In the fourth place, the maxim of manner is obeyed to manifest mutual understanding and to promote congruence．The maxim requires avoiding ambiguity and obscurity, and being brief and orderly, which concerns how information is to be said while other maxims are related to what is to be said．According to it, the speaker must try to avoid ambiguity, obscurity and wordiness in the conversation to make sure that the listener can understand him easily and clearly．This can be shown in the conversation between Darcy and Elizabeth who commence a heated and witty talk about the mysteries to be resolved in their love story．Elizabeth asks why Darcy looked as if he did not care about her when he called her family last time, while Darcy argues for himself：
“But I was embarrassed.”
“And so was I.”
“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”
“A man who had felt less, might.”(Austen, 1992：256)
The above example presents the observation of the maxim of manner．It can be observed from the above passage that the questions and answers are clear, brief and orderly．Among the four sentences, the shortest sentence has only four words．This kind of talk never exists before Elizabeth and Darcy, and it symbolizes their thorough understanding and harmonious relationship without pride and prejudice.
Through the above analysis of the application of the four conversational maxims, this section may sufficiently conclude that the analysis of male-female language from the perspective of the observation of the four maxims indicates genuine understanding regardless of social differences.The maxim of quantity underlines the willingness to make further communication and to build up mutual understanding．The maxim of quality produces trust and reliance between characters．The application of the maxim of relation facilitates the characters' smooth communication and promotes their harmonious relationships．Finally, their observation of the maxim of manner manifests mutual understanding and promotes congruence which avoids ambiguity and obscurity to make sure of the successful conversation．The application of the four maxims manifests the importance of Jane Austen's art of language and the stylistic value.
All in all, an important conclusion to be drawn from the analysis of the cooperation of speeches and the application of the four conversation maxims presented in Chapter One is that the linguistic features in the application of the cooperative principle reveal the harmonious relationship between males and females.The consistency between the speaker's speech and the listener's speech reflects their willingness to build up a good relationship out of the social pressure, marital responsibility and the need for friendship．The characters' cooperation through the four conversational maxims of quantity, quality, manner and relevance is exploited to invest their observation of social norms and determination to make their verbal contribution sufficient, sincere, orderly and relevant．In brief, the application of the cooperative principle contributes greatly to the study of the characterization and the depiction of male-female relationship, which show credibility and reality in the novel．It manifests Jane Austen's mastery of language to depict characters and their relationships.
2 Violation of CP in the Demonstration of Mild Conflict
The title of Pride and Prejudice suggests how the defects of pride and prejudice influence people's judgment and lead to male-female mild conflicts, ranging from indifference to misinterpretation．Those conflicts are not as destructive or violent as fights, however those indifference and misinterpretation can influence people's choices or affect their lives．Pride is usually taken to describe the prominent hero Mr．Darcy, and prejudice is used for the intelligent Elizabeth．However, it must be pointed out that it is not only them who commit such mistakes in Austen's novels, where there are a lot of parallels between characters．Mr．Collins is similarly proud as Mr．Darcy, Lydia is like Elizabeth in her liveliness and blind confidence in her judgment and Kitty's main issue is whether she will turn out to be a Lydia or an Elizabeth．There is disagreement between those dispositions and characters which are represented by indifference and misinterpretation．Their conflicts can be demonstrated by their non-cooperation and violation of the four maxims.
Grice proposes the cooperative principle and its maxims, however in daily conversations, people will not always observe these rules for various reasons (Grice, 2002)．Grice holds that it is not the case that people will follow these guidelines absolutely and completely．When speakers violate the principle, there will be two possibilities．In one possibility, conversational implicature comes into being．It means the extra meaning which is not contained in the utterance and understandable to the listener only when he shares the speaker's knowledge or he knows why and how the speaker flouts purposefully some maxim of the cooperative principle．There is still another possibility．Since the implicature is the extra meaning which is not spoken, it is likely for the flouting to lead to misinterpretation instead．Once people fail in offering the clear, true, relevant and sufficient information in the conversation, they encounter conversational implicatures or misinterpretation．When they share the common knowledge, they gain relevant conversational implicature．Yet when they do not, they produce misinterpretation．In other words, the apparent violation of the principle is closely related to the generation of conversational implicature and the production of misinterpretation as well.
This part is intended to explore linguistic features in the disharmony between males and females from the violation of the cooperative principle, and it consists of two sections．Section one examines the non-cooperation of speeches in social indifference between men and women, which is represented by the inconsistency in their conversation．Section two attempts to discuss the major aspects of the violation of the four conversational maxims of quantity, quality, manner and relevance in the exhibition of disagreement and disapproval between men and women, including inadequate information, false knowledge, ambiguity and irrelevance in their verbal communication．Through the examination of the linguistic phenomena, this chapter is devoted to exploring Jane Austen's mastery of language.
2.1 Non-Cooperation of Speeches in Social Indifference
In Pride and Prejudice, the relationship, between men and women often exhibit social indifference, which is indicated in the men's disregard of and disagreement towards women due to the social reality that men are dominant and women are subordinate．At that time, women were regarded as being inferior and less talented．And it contributed to the disharmony between men and women, which could be indicated in the non-cooperation in their language.
The non-cooperation of speeches results from the function of language to do acts．According to Grice (2002), a speech can do three acts at the same time, locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act．Locutionary act is the act of speaking specific words, namely the literal meaning, illocutionary act is the speaker's implied meaning or his purpose of speaking, and illocutionary act is the result of the speaking, namely what the listener does after listening to the speaker．When the perlocutionary act is inconsistent with the illocutionary act, there is the non-cooperation, which is the violation of the cooperative principle．The inconsistency is closely related to the unfulfilled conditions．This section attempts to exhibit how the non-cooperation of speeches functions in social difference of male-female relationships.
In the first place, non-cooperation in speeches stands for the disregard resulting from difference in gender．Men's superiority guides their response to women in speeches which features ridiculousness and coldness as if women were soulless and could not feel the pain．A case in point is the famous conversation between Mr．and Mrs．Bennet when Mrs．Bennet would like Elizabeth to marry the serious and snobbish Mr．Collins and turns to her unsympathetic husband for help：
“Oh！Mr．Bennet, you are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar．You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr．Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you do not make haste he will change his mind and not have her.”Mr．Bennet raised his eyes，[……] “I have not the pleasure of understanding you,”said he, when she had finished her speech．“Of what are you talking？”(Austen, 1992：77; my omission)
In the above example, Mrs．Bennet makes a long speech which performs three acts．The locutionary act is the speaking of the exact words, which contains the literal meaning．The illocutionary act is the complaint of her failure and her request for Mr．Bennet to persuade Elizabeth into accepting the proposal．The perlocutionary act is the effect of her speech on Mr．Bennet, which is obviously his refusal and indifference．Therefore, the perlocutionary act is not in consistent with the illocutionary act, demonstrating non-cooperation in their speeches．Mr．Bennet is unwilling to accept her request and what's more he makes his wife embarrassed by misleading her into a false belief in front of their grown-up children.
The failure of Mrs．Bennet's speech act lies in its unfulfilled felicity conditions which are also called the conditions of appropriacy．There is something improper in Mrs．Bennet's request for her husband to order Elizabeth to marry．The felicity conditions for a request show that the speaker must first have the right or be in a right position to order others, such as between a teacher and a student．And what is demanded must be feasible．In this case, a wife in the 19th century has not a formal position to order her husband．Women at that special time of the history are regarded as the angel in the house, belonging to family but not having the ownership (苏友芬, 2010)．Mrs．Bennet has not the social power to order her husband; neither does she have the personal appeal to urge him to obey．What's more, the demand itself is not feasible because the daughter will neither change her mind easily nor sacrifice herself for the family.
The felicity conditions for Mrs．Bennet's speech act are not fulfilled in the conversation．In order to better understand the force of Mr．and Mrs．Bennet, one has to adjust to the norms of their culture and background．First, Mrs．Bennet's stupidity prevents her from understanding his husband's personality．Then Mr．Bennet's impoliteness and disrespect towards his wife lead to the disharmony of the relationship and misinterpretation between the couple．He just makes fun of his own wife．He calls his own daughters “silly and ignorant like other girls”(Nash, 1980：48)．It's not only Mrs．Bennet's mean understanding to be blamed, Mr．Bennet's ignorance of Mrs．Bennet's feelings and his irresponsibility of the family shall equally be criticized．In their relationship, there is the social bias against women, the criticism of Mrs．Bennet, and Mr．Bennet's prejudice against his wife．All in all the inferiority of women and pride of men generate the non-cooperation in their speech, which in turn reveals the disregard from different genders and the disharmony in male-female relationship.
In the second place, non-cooperation in speeches indicates indifference and disapprobation between Darcy and Miss Bingley, who are not equal in terms of intelligence and understanding．It is necessary to point out there is a parallel between the pair of Darcy and Caroline Bingley and that of Mr．and Mrs．Bennet．Darcy and Caroline are not married, otherwise their future relationship would be exactly the same as the Bennets'．Ridiculously Miss Bingley is always contemptuous of Mrs．Bennet whom she has never realized any similarity but is alike in being socially inferior and mentally unsubtle．Her relationship with Darcy exhibits the similar disharmony and there is non-cooperation in their speeches, which indicates disagreement and indifference resulting from their social differences in gender and intelligence．A case in point is the following amusing conversation between Darcy and Miss Bingley at Mr．Bingley's house：
“How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter！”
He made no answer.
“You write uncommonly fast.”
“You are mistaken．I write rather slowly.”(Austen, 1992：3233)
In the above example, the first sentence belongs to Miss Bingley who tries to commence a conversation with Darcy and build up a closer relationship．The speech's three acts are the locutionary act which is the utterance of the literal meaning, the illocutionary act which is the compliment for Darcy's sister and the intention to arouse Darcy's attention, and the perlocutionary act which is Darcy's silence and ignorance．The perlocutionary act is inconsistent with the locutionary act, which symbolizes the non-cooperation between them．In a word, Miss Bingley flatters Darcy and tries to gain his approbation, but Darcy is indifferent to her flattery and shows boredom．Because of Darcy's non-cooperative attitude, which is the violation of the cooperative principle, their communication is not smooth at all.
The above dialogue is just a small portion of a much longer one, which demonstrates the same feature of non-cooperation．Miss Bingley's speech acts are not successful and their felicity conditions are not fulfilled at all．First, flattery is not attractive to Mr．Darcy as a rich and handsome young man, since he has had enough of other people's compliments．Second, the content of her flattery is commonplace, which is without direction or depth．Darcy thoroughly despises those who assiduously court him and is disgusted with the women who are always speaking and looking, and thinking for his approbation alone．He is sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention (Austen, 1992)．Only the liveliness of a mind can earn his love and interest．In brief, Miss Bingley's speech acts do not fulfill the felicity conditions, which may change from one society to another, from one person to another, and her purpose to gain Mr．Darcy's approbation fails．The non-cooperation in their speeches demonstrates indifference, disapprobation and proudness in their disharmonious relationship.
It can be concluded that through the analysis of the violation of the cooperative principle by generating non-cooperation in the speeches, the mild conflict represented in the form of disregard and disagreement widely exists between men and women in Pride and Prejudice．In their conversation, the speeches fail in receiving cooperation or approbation because of the failure in fulfilling the felicity conditions．The non-cooperation in male-female speeches indicates their disharmonious relationship in the novel.
2.2 Violation of the Four Maxims in Interpersonal Disagreement
In Pride and Prejudice, there is interpersonal disagreement between men and women, indicating the disapprobation and misinterpretation between different characteristics and values．As the title suggests, the novel is closely related to the two personality defects of pride and prejudice which generate conflict and disharmony between protagonists．And the popularity of this novel lies “in the dynamics between its hero and heroine whose relationship changes and determines the structure of the novel”(Mooneyham, 1988：45)．In the first half of the novel, there is “full of misinterpretation and conflict between them which is the comic conflict in consequence of a double misinterpretation of language”(Mooneyham, 1988：48)．On one hand, they misunderstand themselves; on the other hand, they misunderstand each other．For example, Darcy and Elizabeth represent pride and prejudice respectively which dominate the misinterpretation all along the first half of their story．Darcy's pride blinds him by disregarding Elizabeth's wit and beauty and Elizabeth's prejudice hinders herself from Darcy's honesty and virtues．Their relationship undergoes a lot of setbacks resulting from dislike, mistrust, confusion and misinterpretation in general．Besides it, there are also other male-female relationships which exhibit conflict due to their pride, prejudice or other human defects.
What's more, the interpersonal disagreement can be sufficiently explained by the violation of the four maxims of CP in verbal interaction between men and women in the novel．According to Grice, people should obey certain principles in order to use language to make smooth communication, and he puts forward the cooperative principle and its four maxims of quantity, quality, relevance and manner．On one hand, the violation of the four maxims will produce conversational implicature which is the additional meaning implied in the speech．A good example is illustrated to show the conversational implicature by violating the maxim of quantity：Speaker A asks speaker B what he purchased yesterday; Speaker B's answer is he just bought “something”; therefore Speaker B is said to violate the maxim of quantity by giving too inadequate information．The implied implicature in the answer is that speaker B doesn't want to tell speaker A or there are secrets not to be revealed in his purchase．On the other hand, the conversational implicature is very subjective and dependent on the context and personal interpretation．It is very likely that the speaker implies something but the listener perceives something else when they don't share common background knowledge．In this way, misunderstanding comes into being simultaneously．In brief, the violation of the four maxims produces conversational implicature as well as misinterpretation．This section puts the emphasis on the respective illustration of the effects of the violation in the representation of the interpersonal disagreement between men and women.
In the first place, the speaker's violating the maxim of quantity creates disapprobation and misunderstanding by means of providing insufficient or redundant message．There are two conditions for the maxim, namely not to be less informative, and not to be more informative than required．Since the maxim requires people to provide the proper amount of information, when the speeches involved in the conversation do not meet the requirement, deviation arises．As far as the first condition of not being less informative is concerned, its violation produces disapprobation, a good example of which would be Mrs．Bennet's first impression on Darcy：
“I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his ill-treatment; for he is such a disagreeable man that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him．Mrs．Long told me last night that he sat close to her for half an hour without once opening his lips.”(Austen, 1992：13)
In this case, Mrs．Bennet evaluates Darcy as a disagreeable man for his silence in the company of Mrs．Long for a long time, which is a typical sign of providing less information than what is required for a gentleman to do in a party．His obvious violation of the maxim, which is even related to social manners, arouses disapprobation not only from Mrs．Bennet and Mrs．Long, but also from Elizabeth and other ladies in the party．Consequently people judge him as a most forbidding and disagreeable countenance and an unworthy creature in spite of his large estate and wealth (Austen, 1992)．This impression leaves great impact on Elizabeth, who picks up prejudice against him simultaneously at the first meeting.
The violation of the condition also leads to misinterpretation between male and female characters．The following situation in which Darcy draws near Elizabeth and asks her to dance with him at Mr．Bingley's is a good example：
He said to her, “Do not you feel a great inclination Miss Bennet, to seize such an opportunity of dancing a reel？”She smiled, but made no answer．(Austen, 1992：36)
In this dialogue the maxim of quantity is violated by Elizabeth who deliberately gives less information than required．Her smile cannot provide enough information for Darcy to catch up with, which simply leads to Darcy's misunderstanding mixed with surprise and doubt．He is not sure of her implied meaning and wonders whether she is shy or she doesn't hear him clearly, never suspecting her unwillingness to dance with him because he is so proud as to regard it as a great honor to invite such a girl of the lower social position to dance.
The violation of the second condition generates misinterpretation by means of providing more information than what is required in a conversation．A case in point is Elizabeth's answer to Darcy's repeated invitation for a dance：
He repeated the question, with some surprise at her silence.
“Oh！”said she, “I heard you before; but I could not immediately determine what to say in reply．You wanted me, I know, to say ‘Yes,’ that you might have the pleasure of despising my taste; but I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of their premeditated contempt．I have therefore made up my mind to tell you that I do not want to dance a reel at all—and now despise me if you dare.”(Austen, 1992：36)
As is shown in the above example, Elizabeth's answer is too long for Darcy's invitation, which proves that she is deliberately violating the maxim with the implied meaning to refuse and rebut him．However, without the knowledge of Elizabeth's intention, Darcy misreads her attack as sexual, not moral, antagonism—as the insolence of growing affection, not disapprobation (Mooneyham, 1988)．He feels she is very sweet and he has never been bewitched by any woman as he is by her．He really believes that were it not for the inferiority of her connections he should be in some danger．His misinterpretation is aroused by Elizabeth's violation of the maxim, which results from her prejudice against Darcy．As critics have demonstrated, prejudice is an inordinate love of one's own perception．The language of prejudice must therefore be fluid and dogmatic—fluid to account for seeming aberrations which challenge immovable beliefs, and dogmatic to ignore those aberrations which cannot be explained away (Mooneyham, 1988)．Elizabeth's language is fluid and dogmatic with her rebellious words of “overthrow”, “cheat”and “dare”, and her diction of “not at all”and “always”．She is exhibiting moral hierarchy by regarding Darcy as being too proud, yet Darcy misinterprets it as teasing and flirting．During this period, Elizabeth exhibits her dislike of his pride, but Darcy misinterprets her words and displays controlled attachment to her.
In the second place, the violation of the maxim of quality misleads people and produces difficulty for mutual understanding in the novel．There are two conditions for the maxim, one being the requirement for telling the truth, and the other being the requirement for conveying information that they have adequate evidence．The violation of either condition will produce difficulties．A good example would be the conversation between Darcy and Elizabeth when they meet again and dance together at Netherfield．Because of Darcy's silence, Elizabeth suddenly fancies that it would be greater punishment to her partner to force him into conversation．She intentionally speaks of Wickham in order to humiliate Darcy against whom she holds prejudice; therefore there appears a difficult conversation between them who both have some secrets in mind：
Darcy spoke, and in a constrained manner said, “Mr．Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his making friends—whether he may be equally capable of retaining them, is less certain.”
“He has been so unlucky as to lose your friendship,”replied Elizabeth with emphasis, “and in a manner which he is likely to suffer from all his life.”(Austen, 1992：64)
In this dialogue, both Darcy and Elizabeth violate the maxim of quality by not telling their true thoughts．Superficially Darcy praises Mr．Wickham's pleasing manners, but factually he is implying Wickham's artifice and unworthiness by violating the maxim．However, his words mislead Elizabeth into believing in his pride and jealousy of Mr．Wickham．She intentionally uses “unlucky”to describe Wickham's loss of Darcy's friendship, which is opposite to her true thought．She is deliberately saying something she believes to be false, and intends to criticize and humiliate Darcy．However her violation of the maxim of quality leads to the misinterpretation from Darcy who knows nothing of Wickham's mean treatment of him and does not catch up with Elizabeth's implicature．He doesn't regard it as criticism at all and then just smiles it away regardless of her connotations．In general, Elizabeth keeps on teasing Darcy, regarding him as being morally inferior, and yet her words are misinterpreted．Without knowledge of Wickham's distortion of the truth, they cannot understand each other's real intention．Ironically, Darcy's love for her increases day by day and their relationship is unilaterally improved when Elizabeth is filled with mistrust in Darcy and Darcy is appreciating her sharpness and liveliness.
In the third place, the violation of the maxim of relevance creates confusion and disapprobation between male and female characters in the novel．The maxim needs people to say something relevant to the topic in question．If people say something irrelevant and they do not share common knowledge, misinterpretation arises which can be best illustrated in the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth when Darcy's submitted love for Elizabeth has been developing fast．In their talk when Elizabeth travels to visit her married friend Charlotte and meets with Darcy accidentally, Darcy's emotion almost escapes his mouth, of which Elizabeth is totally unaware．A case in point lies in their talk as Elizabeth regards it as a big distance between Charlotte's new home and her own family and old friends：
Mr．Darcy drew his chair a little towards her, and said, “You cannot have a right to such very strong local attachment．You cannot have been always at Longbourn.”
Elizabeth looked surprised．The gentlemen experienced some change of feeling; he drew back his chair, too a newspaper from the table, and, glancing over it, said, in a colder voice,
“Are you pleased with Kent？”(Austen, 1992：122)
In this conversation, the maxim of relevance is violated twice by Darcy unintentionally out of his concern for Elizabeth and intentionally out of his own embarrassment．For a start, Elizabeth's talk focuses on Charlotte, but Darcy's response alludes to Elizabeth's future marriage, which is the unintentional revelation of his inner thoughts of his potential marriage with Elizabeth．The violation of the maxim reveals the fact that he is critically in love with Elizabeth at the moment．And then when her surprise reminds Darcy of his own manners, he switches to random and nonsense topics quickly to cover his real emotion, which is another violation of relevance．The second violation is intentional to cover his affection for Elizabeth．However, his violation only leads to a greater surprise and a further misunderstanding of Elizabeth who tells this to Charlotte and asks her for advice．After various conjectures, the two ladies can only conclude that his visit and manners are due to the fact that gentlemen find nothing else to do with all field sports being over at the time of year．They contribute his irrelevant talks to being nonsense．The poor Darcy receives serious misinterpretation, which is closely related to his pride and seriousness in former interaction．His violation of the maxim of relevance merely leads to Elizabeth's further misunderstanding．Ironically, Elizabeth is full of confusion with Mr．Darcy's behaviors, but Darcy is hardly in control of his feelings and plans to propose to her.
What's more, the violation of the maxim of relevance represents the listener's disinclination and disapprobation in a certain speech context．A listener intentionally switches from one topic to another irrelevant one to produce the conversational implicature of negation．A good example would be in the relationship between Elizabeth and her cousin Mr．Collins who is snobbish and ridiculous being usually unaware of anyone's feeling but his own．After a careful examination of the Bennet girls, Mr．Collins makes a proposal to Elizabeth, which is the violation of the maxim of relevance．In his proposal, he first confesses his love for Elizabeth which is relevant, but soon he commences to emphasize his reason for the proposal, which has the following four features which make it irrelevant to the romantic topic：first, unlike a nervous lover, his proposal is in an orderly manner; second, he constantly vaunts his easy circumstances as a good reason for Elizabeth to accept him; third, the marriage is to make him happy and set a model of matrimony in his parish; last but not least, his marriage is advised by the rich landlord Lady Catherine．In brief, in his proposal, there are a lot of words which are irrelevant and should not have been included．Consequently, he is refused by Elizabeth who dislikes him from the very beginning and is agitated by what is inside his disappointing proposal．It shows the evidence that Mr．Collins is as proud as Darcy in the sense that he is only aware of his own feelings．If he held Darcy's wealth and position, he would exhibit more pride and arrogance．Even his own feeling changes quickly．Not well-educated, his perception is just within outward formalities and social standards．He is concerned with the church for his own sake without having a deeper Christian feeling with whom Elizabeth is very unlikely to fall in love．Therefore, Elizabeth has to interrupt his tedious speech, which is another good example for the violation of the maxim of relevance．The interruption is not polite, since it's not only the violation of the maxim but also the violation of the principle as a whole．The disagreement in their speeches reflects the disharmony in their relationship, which is due to their different values．Mr．Collins holds high the wealth and status worship, and his respect for Lady Catherine is on the basis of her wealth and high rank．However Elizabeth holds the opposite attitude towards the rich and often challenges the wealth and the pride．She believes in mutual understanding and equality in marriage for which she has twofold need．First and foremost, she would like to look for a man who has taken an interest in her for her own sake and to experience the delights of eros (Gill ＆ Gregory, 2003)．These different values contribute to their violation in their speeches, which in turn demonstrates their disharmony.
Last but not least, the violation of the maxim of manner indicates doubt and misjudgment．The maxim of manner means that people should speak clearly in communication, avoiding obscurity of expression, ambiguity, prolixity and disorder．A good example for its violation is the identical conversation between Elizabeth and Darcy when Elizabeth tentatively makes enquiries into his role in Mr．Bingley's sudden departure from her sister Jane Bennet：
“I think I have understood that Mr．Bingley has not much idea of ever returning to Netherfield again？”
“I have never heard him say so; but it is probable that he may spend very little of his time there in future．He has many friends, and he is at time of life when friends and engagements are continually increasing.”(Austen, 1992：121)
In the above extract, Darcy's answer violates the maxims of manner by being obscure and prolix, which should have been simple and definite．He first uses the word “never”to deny the knowledge in this event, and then he adopts words like “probable”and “may”to show the probability, which makes his answer suspicious and timid and arouses Elizabeth's doubt and prejudice．For one thing, Darcy violates the maxim of manner to imply the information that Mr．Bingley will not continue his relationship with Jane and he tries to avoid too direct answers which may hurt Elizabeth and Jane's feelings．For another thing, Elizabeth considers his manner as being guilty of his evil intention．She is surer of Darcy's bad behaviors and manners, which are totally the misinterpretation of Darcy's former words．Her dislike and doubt about him accumulates, and the misinterpretation finally leads to her immediate and rash refusal to Darcy's passionate proposal．Thus, it can be concluded that Darcy's violation of the maxim of manner by being obscure and prolix produces doubt and misunderstanding in Elizabeth's heart.
What's more, the violation of this maxim by being ambiguous represents misinterpretation, which can be illustrated in the dialogue between Mr．and Mrs．Bennet about Elizabeth's marriage with Mr．Collins．In the dialogue, Mrs．Bennet asks her husband to persuade Elizabeth into accepting Mr．Collins's proposal：
(Mrs．Bennet)“Speak to Lizzy about it yourself．Tell her that you insist upon her marrying him.”(Mr．Bennet) “Let her be called down．She shall hear my opinion.”Mrs．Bennet rang the bell, and Miss Elizabeth was summoned to the library．(Austen, 1992：77)
In the above example, Mr．Bennet violates the maxim by providing an answer which arouses ambiguity.His “opinion”can be interpreted in two opposite ways, one being that he will help his wife with the acceptance of the proposal, and the other being that he will support Elizabeth with the refusal to the marriage．His intentional violation produces two meanings simultaneously and implies his disrespect and prank on his nervous wife as well．Consequently, Mrs．Bennet perceives his speech as being positive and supportive, which proves to be false．Moreover, her misinterpretation has always been laughed at by the husband and their daughters as well, which makes it impossible for Mrs．Bennet to make improvements and gain understanding and merits．The disharmony between the wife and the husband should not be attributed to her alone but also to her husband who is in need of self-control and self-discipline．If it were not for Mr．Bennet's unselfish love for Elizabeth, he would appear contemptible and obnoxious．Fortunately, approaching the end of the novel, he gains self-denial and self-improvement by realizing his irresponsibility as a husband and father and repenting what he has done in the family.
Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that the four conversational maxims play a significant role in the appreciation and mastery of male-female relationship in the novel, and the analysis of their violation makes the reader better appreciate Jane Austen's art of language．The violation of the maxim of quantity produces misinterpretation between characters by means of providing more or less information that is required, the violation of the maxim of quality produces difficulty for mutual understanding since speakers tell things which are not truth or which lack adequate evidence, the violation of the maxim of relevance creates confusion when characters respond irrelevantly, and the violation of the maxim of manner indicates doubt and misjudgment because of the obscurity, ambiguity, disorder or prolixity．What's more, the violation may be unintentional or intentional, the former produces misunderstanding or disapprobation directly, and the latter may generate both the speaker's implicature or the listener's misinterpretation．Last but not least, it has to be pointed out that there is possibility that more than one maxim might be violated in one's speech simultaneously, and the violation of one maxim may be traced back to the application of another maxim, which is more complicated than what has been analyzed so far in this book．To sum up, the violation of the four conversational maxims brings about difficulty in communication and generates interpersonal disagreement between men and women possessing different personalities and values in the novel.
As far as this part is concerned, the violation of the cooperative principle, which is realized by the non-cooperative speech acts and the violation of the four conversational maxims, is highlighted in Pride and Prejudice．It supports the idea that characters perform the violation in their speeches to illustrate mild conflict between men and women．The non-cooperation in their speech acts is a way of presenting the social indifference between “superior and intelligent”men and “inferior and untalented”women．And then the violation of the four conversational maxims of quantity, quality, manner and relevance illustrates the interpersonal disagreement between men and women with different personalities and values．This book analyzes the violation of the cooperative principle and is able to demonstrate the non-cooperation and disharmony between men and women resulting from social and personal reasons．The highlighted linguistic feature represented in the violation of the linguistic principle may manifest the significance of Jane Austen's art of language.
Through the above analysis of the application and violation of the cooperative principle, this chapter may conclude that the linguistic approach is quite effective in the representation of dynamic relationships between men and women in Pride and Prejudice．First, the application of the cooperative principle is represented by the cooperation in their speeches and the application of four conversational maxims of quality, quantity, relevance and manner．The cooperative speech acts are realized by means of the listener's positive response to the speaker's speech．In other words, the listener does what the speaker would like him to do．Considering the social context such as social norms and family responsibilities, they are able to reflect male-female compromise in search for security and comfort．The four conversational maxims are applied to smooth communication and further agreement, and they promote the mutual understanding between men and women who hold tight to virtue and intelligence in face of social biases．And then the violation of the principle is illustrated by non-cooperation in speeches and the violation of the four maxims．The non-cooperative speech acts are represented by the listener's negative reaction to the speaker's words, which is, the listener does not do what he is supposed to do according to the speaker．In view of its felicity conditions, it indicates the social differences between different genders and social positions of men and women．The violation of the four maxims underlies insufficient message, false information, irrelevance or vagueness in their conversations, and it implies the disagreement between men and women of different temperaments and values．So far, this chapter has proposed that the linguistic approach to Jane Austen's language has extended the horizons in her fiction.
