On The Violation Of The Cooperative Principle In Consecutive Interpreting

American linguistic philosopher Paul Grice claimed that people who are engaged in a conversation observe some principles in a conscious or unconscious way so as to achieve an effective communication. He put forward Cooperative Principle, under which listeners and speakers must speak cooperatively and mutually accept one another to be understood in a particular way. Interpreting is a way for inter-culture communication. Interpreters, as intermediaries, should cooperate with both speakers and listeners.However, Cooperative Principle can not be observed strictly all the time. People may violate Cooperative Principle on purpose when necessary. The speaker might violate Cooperative Principle for special communicative effects; the interpreter might violate Cooperative Principle for better outputs.This report is based on the author’s interpreting practice, which records her experience of consecutive interpreting for a sociology lecture with the topic of Class Theory and the Power Elite. Case studies in terms of violation of Cooperative Principle will be provided, which illustrate that violation of Cooperative Principle in a proper way could be a contributor to an effective communication; otherwise, it will cause information loses or misunderstandings. Violation of Cooperative Principle in an appropriate time is of great significance in facilitating communication.