The Interpretation to Classic Lines of the Movie Roman Holiday from the Perspective of Politeness Principle

摘要

The principle of cooperation is an important guiding principle of conversation, but it is not the only principle. Grice, a famous language philosopher, also mentioned other principles such as politeness principles, aesthetic principles, social principles and so on, while the most notable one among the principles is the politeness principle. It is well known that Lakeoff put forward two principles of pragmatic competence in 1977, which are clarity and politeness. In 1978, Brown and Levinson put forward the theory of face management (Face-management View) based on face concept. They believe that the purpose of politeness is to maintain the face of both parties. In 1983 Leech proposed the politeness principle. It can not be denied that the principle of politeness plays an indispensable role in interpersonal communication, enabling people to communicate normally through dialogues. As a remarkable works in the film history, Roman Holiday has impressed many audiences all the time. Actually, the success of the movie is inseparable from its classic lines to some extent. Therefore, based on politeness principle, this paper attempts to analyse the classic lines of Roman Holiday through several groups of dialogues of the movie. The purpose is to make people have a profound understanding to the language art of Roman Holiday and better understand the importance of politeness principle in discourse application.