| Acknowledgements | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract | 第6-8页 |
| 摘要 | 第8-11页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第11-18页 |
| ·Motivation | 第12-13页 |
| ·Comparability | 第13-14页 |
| ·Scope of the study | 第14-15页 |
| ·Methodology | 第15-16页 |
| ·Organization of the Dissertation | 第16-18页 |
| Chapter Two An Overview of Studies Concerning Indirect Speech Act | 第18-33页 |
| ·Researches Abroad | 第18-25页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第18-20页 |
| ·Indirect Speech Act | 第20-21页 |
| ·Indirect Speech Act and Pragmatic Principles | 第21-25页 |
| ·Researches in China | 第25-31页 |
| ·Domestic Study on Indirectness | 第26-27页 |
| ·Domestic study on indirect speech act | 第27-31页 |
| ·Other Linguists’Complements to This Field | 第31-33页 |
| Chapter Three A General Survey of Indirect Speech Act | 第33-44页 |
| ·Definition of Indirect Speech Act | 第33-34页 |
| ·Motivations of Indirect Speech Act | 第34-37页 |
| ·Features of Indirect Speech Act | 第37-40页 |
| ·Disparity between Sentence Meaning and Utterance Meaning | 第37-38页 |
| ·Inconsistency between Form and Function | 第38-40页 |
| ·Classification of Indirect Speech act | 第40-44页 |
| ·Conventional Indirect Speech Acts | 第40-41页 |
| ·Non-conventional Indirect Speech Acts | 第41-44页 |
| Chapter Four Cultural Influences on Chinese and English Indirect Speech Act | 第44-70页 |
| ·Relationship between Indirect Speech Act and Culture | 第44-51页 |
| ·Perspectives on Culture | 第44-46页 |
| ·Language and Culture | 第46-48页 |
| ·Indirect speech act and culture | 第48-51页 |
| ·The Cultural Difference between Chinese and English Indirect Speech Act | 第51-58页 |
| ·Differences in Cultural Conventions | 第52-54页 |
| ·Differences in Contextual Cues | 第54-56页 |
| ·Differences in Affective Implicature | 第56-58页 |
| ·Cultural Factors Contributing to the Difference of Indirect Speech Act | 第58-70页 |
| ·Value Systems | 第59-61页 |
| ·Contextual Orientation | 第61-64页 |
| ·Connotations of Face | 第64-67页 |
| ·Communication Style | 第67-70页 |
| Chapter Five Case Studies | 第70-79页 |
| ·Case 1 | 第70-72页 |
| ·Case 2 | 第72-73页 |
| ·Case 3 | 第73-75页 |
| ·Case 4 | 第75-79页 |
| Chapter 6 Conclusion | 第79-82页 |
| Bibliography | 第82-85页 |
