从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用

　　5.1. Violation of Quality Maxim"Violation of Quality Maxim means by saying things thatare not true or the fact and making irresponsible andinsincere remarks by the speakers. It can produce somespecifical content: humor, or disguise the intention such asMinistry of Defence for Ministry of War, life insurence forinsurance when you are dead, freedom fighters forterrorists."[25] Frankly speaking, euphemisms have a tendencyto violate Quality Maxim in order to express unpleasant thingsor ideas etc. in an indirect, roundabout and pleasant way.

　　Therefore if hearers want to know the real intentions , theyshould infer the conversational implicature from theillocutionary meaning based on the special context. Moreoverhyperbole and understatement also don't obey the QualityMaxim, for all these contribution are true . Let us look atsome examples as follows:

　　(4) Q: Britain and France both put troops on standby alert …for possible movement into Kosovo. While … has the U.S. putany units on stand-by for a possible movement to Kosovo?

　　A: In view of the fact that … our forces remain at theircurrent state of readiness. There … increase that state ofalertness at this point. Obviously… on short stand-by… airoperations, would… .

　　In the above Q-A patterns of the transcripts, we can seediplomatic euphemisms like “possible movement”, “at theircurrent state of readiness” and “air operation” etc. are usedin press conferences that violate the Quality Maxim. From thespecific context we know that here “possible movement” mainlymeans “possible military attack”, “at their current state ofreadiness” refers to “at their current state of fighting ” and“air operation” refers to “air war” or “air fight” etc.. Stillwe can find more examples violating Quality Maxim of the CP inpress conferences like “Ministry of Defense” for “Ministry ofWar”, “entering into Kosovo” or “go into Kosovo” for “invadeKosovo” or “invasion” and “information” for “militaryintelligence” and also “active defense” for “attack” etc.. Bysaying that, the authority can distort the facts to someextent and also reduce its bad impressions on the public.