| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-8页 |
| 摘要 | 第8-9页 |
| CONTENTS | 第9-11页 |
| CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION | 第11-14页 |
| ·Research Background | 第11-12页 |
| ·Research Significance | 第12-13页 |
| ·Research Methodology | 第13页 |
| ·Dissertation Organization | 第13-14页 |
| CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW | 第14-20页 |
| ·A Brief Introduction to Laoshe and His Play Teahouse | 第14-18页 |
| ·Laoshe | 第14-16页 |
| ·Teahouse | 第16-18页 |
| ·The Language Characteristics of Laoshe's Work | 第18-20页 |
| CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK | 第20-29页 |
| ·Grice's Cooperative Principle | 第20-25页 |
| ·Four maxims of the Cooperative Principle | 第21-22页 |
| ·Nature of the maxims | 第22-23页 |
| ·Flouting the maxims | 第23-25页 |
| ·Flouting the maxim of quantity | 第24页 |
| ·Flouting the maxim of quality | 第24页 |
| ·Flouting the maxim of relation | 第24-25页 |
| ·Flouting the maxim of manner | 第25页 |
| ·Politeness Principle | 第25-29页 |
| ·Leech's Politeness Principle | 第26-29页 |
| ·PP vs. CP | 第26-27页 |
| ·Maxims of the Politeness Principle | 第27-29页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR STUDIES ON CHARACTERS'UTTERANCES INTEAHOUSE | 第29-50页 |
| ·Conversational Implicature in Teahouse | 第29-45页 |
| ·Conversational implicature generated by violation of Quantity Maxim | 第29-33页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Make Your Contribution as Informative as is Required | 第30页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Do Not Make Your Contribution more Informative than is Required | 第30-33页 |
| ·Conversational implicature generated by violation of Quality Maxim | 第33-37页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Do Not Say What You Believe to be False | 第33-35页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Do Not Say that for Which You Lack Adequate Evidence | 第35-37页 |
| ·Conversational implicature generated by violation of Relevance Maxim | 第37-39页 |
| ·Conversational implicature generated by violation of Manner Maxim | 第39-45页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Avoid Obscurity of Expression | 第39-41页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Avoid Ambiguity | 第41-43页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Be Brief | 第43-44页 |
| ·Violation of the Sub Maxim---Be Orderly | 第44-45页 |
| ·The Function of Conversational Implicature in Characters' Utterances in Teahouse | 第45-49页 |
| ·Reflection of Characters' Personality | 第45-47页 |
| ·Reflection of Social Culture and Phenomena | 第47-49页 |
| ·Summary | 第49-50页 |
| CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION | 第50-52页 |
| ·Summary | 第50-51页 |
| ·Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research | 第51-52页 |
| References | 第52-53页 |
