Contents

Acknowledgments

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to Criminal Minds-1

1.2 Reasons for the Study-1

1.3 Significance of the Study-2

1.4 Structure of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Previous Studies on Criminal Minds-3

2.1 Psychological Characteristics-3

2.2 Interrogative Skills-3

2.3 Narrative Strategies-3

2.4 Comments on Previous Study-4

Chapter Three Conversational Implicature in Criminal Minds-5

3.1 Conversational Implicature-5

3.2 Conventional Implicature in Criminal Minds-5

3.3 Generalized Conversational Implicature in Criminal Minds-7

3.4 Particularized Conversational Implicature in Criminal Minds-8

Chapter Four Conclusion-13

4.1 Findings of the Study-13

4.2 Suggestions for Further Study-13

References-14

Abstract

In recent years, American crime dramas became very popular in China. Criminal Minds is a typical example of this kind of dramas, which has been hotly broadcast for more than ten years. Nowadays, more and more scholars start to put efforts on the study of Criminal Minds. These researches mainly focus on the psychological characteristics, interrogative skills or narrative strategies, but few scholars pay attention to the conversational implicature in this drama. This thesis chooses a large number of typical dialogues to carry out a detailed analysis of conversational implicature in Criminal Minds. Through analyzing the conventional implicature, generalized conversational implicature and particularized conversational implicature of these typical dialogues in the TV series, this study can provide a new horizon for the research of conversational implicature. It also enriches the pragmatic studies on American crime dramas. Moreover, this kind of conversational implicature analysis can help the audience understand the personalities of those characters in this drama deeply, and it can also enable English learners to enjoy crime dramas better. 

Keywords:  Criminal Minds  conventional implicature  generalized conversational impicature  particularized conversational implicature