s a case of flouting the Cooperative Principle by violating the maxim of quality.
Examples:
(1) This diligent student seldom reads more than an hour per month. [12]
The intended meaning of the speaker is this is a lazy student. However, he uses an opposite of “lazy”—diligent. Diligent is here used to produce sarcasm.
(2) A: Sorry, Mary. I cannot give you a lift after work. I have to meet a friend at the airport.
       B: Thank you very much. It’s very kind of you. [13]
In this conversation, B does not really praise A. He uses “It’s very kind of you.” to show his dissatisfaction in fact.
(3) A: John says he tops us all at football.
       B: I like his cheek. [14]
When B said, “ I like his cheek.”, he infringed the quality maxim to tell a lie. It is easily inferred from the context that B uses the opposite word “like” to mean his truly dislike.
(4) Rose and David met an elegant woman on the street. They appreciated her fine action until she suddenly spitted phlegm to the floor. Under this situation comes the discourse as follows:
     Rose: She is really lovely, isn’t she?
     David: She sure is. [15]
Rose tended to use “lovely” to laugh at the elegant woman’s poor action here.
These instances are violations of the maxim of truth by saying something he/ she does not really believe. In these irony acts, indirectness seems like a shield which masks a genuine intent considered risky by the speakers. The ironical utterances not only convey messages but also conceal what the speakers really bear in mind. The speakers violate the Cooperative Principle consciously to express their real meaning in indirect way. Irony helps to make the utterance much more humor.

4. Irony and the Politeness Principle
4.1 The Politeness Principle
Leech thinks that Grice’s Cooperative Principle in itself cannot e[转贴于:论文大全网 https://www.11665.com/Foreignlanguage/langageculture/201103/53598.html]

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