| Acknowledgements | 第1-8页 |
| Abstract | 第8-12页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第14-18页 |
| ·The Background of the Study | 第14-15页 |
| ·Objectives of the Study | 第15-16页 |
| ·Layout of the Dissertation | 第16-18页 |
| Chapter Two Previous Studies on Conversational Inference | 第18-35页 |
| ·The Definition of Conversational Inference | 第18-19页 |
| ·Formal Approaches to Conversational Inference | 第19-23页 |
| ·Grice's View | 第19-20页 |
| ·Horn's & Levinson's Views | 第20-23页 |
| ·Cognitive Approaches to Conversational Inference | 第23-25页 |
| ·Socio-cultural Approaches to Conversational Inference | 第25-26页 |
| ·Mixed Approaches to Conversational Inference | 第26-32页 |
| ·Xu Shenghuan's View | 第26-29页 |
| ·Xiong Xueliang's View | 第29-31页 |
| ·Other Views | 第31-32页 |
| ·Summary | 第32-35页 |
| Chapter Three Theoretical Prelimilaries | 第35-41页 |
| ·Some Remarks on Metapragmatics | 第35-38页 |
| ·Perspective of the Present Studies | 第38-41页 |
| ·Research Hypotheses & Questions | 第39页 |
| ·Theoretical Framework | 第39-41页 |
| Chapter Four Mechanism of Conversational Inference | 第41-66页 |
| ·Presumptive Reasoning and Conversational Inference | 第41-56页 |
| ·Argument from Ignorance and the Presumption of Cooperation and Optimal Relevance | 第44-47页 |
| ·Default Reasoning and Generalized Conversational Implicature | 第47-52页 |
| ·Abductive Reasoning and Particularized Conversational Implicature | 第52-56页 |
| ·Deductive Reasoning and Conversational Inference | 第56-62页 |
| ·Possibility of Applying Deductive Reasoning in Conversational Inference | 第57-60页 |
| ·Constraints of Deductive Reasoning on Conversational Inference | 第60-62页 |
| ·Summary | 第62-66页 |
| Chapter Five Resource of Conversational Inference | 第66-90页 |
| ·Intention as Resource of Conversational Inference | 第66-69页 |
| ·Intention and Grice's Theory of Conversational Implicature | 第66-68页 |
| ·Intention and Relevance Theory | 第68-69页 |
| ·Cognitive Schemata as Resource of Conversational Inference | 第69-88页 |
| ·Cognitive Schemata | 第70-81页 |
| ·Cognitive Schemata and Conversational Inference | 第81-88页 |
| ·Summary | 第88-90页 |
| Chapter Six Constraint on Conversational Inference | 第90-103页 |
| ·An Overview of Context | 第90-93页 |
| ·The Constraints of Context on Conversational Inference | 第93-102页 |
| ·Linguistic Context and Its Constraints on Conversational Inference | 第94-97页 |
| ·Situational Context and Its Constraints on Conversational Inference | 第97-99页 |
| ·Cultural Context and Its Constraints on Conversational Inference | 第99-101页 |
| ·Cognitive Context and Its Constraints on Conversational Inference | 第101-102页 |
| ·Summary | 第102-103页 |
| Chapter Seven Conclusions | 第103-106页 |
| ·Implications | 第103-104页 |
| ·Limitations | 第104页 |
| ·Prospects for Further studies | 第104-106页 |
| References | 第106-112页 |
