英语系本科论文电子模板Word格式.docx

英语系本科论文电子模板Word格式.docx

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学号2006572163

指导教师尹蔚

二O一O年四月

APragmaticAnalysisofVerbalHumorinFriends

AthesissubmittedtothefacultyofCCNU

InpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsforBAdegree

InEnglishLanguageandLiterature

byWeiNa

Supervisor:

YinWei

AcademicTitle:

Lecturer

Signature:

April2010

Contents

AbstractinChinese……………………………………………………………

i

AbstractinEnglish…………………………………………………………….

ii

1.Introduction………………………………………………………………….

2.LiteratureReview……………………………………………………………

2.1Thedefinitionofhumor…………………………………………………...

2.2Humorstudiesabroad……………………………………………………..

2.3Humorstudiesathome……………………………………………………

3.TheoreticalFramework……………………………………………………..

3.1Grice’scooperativeprinciple……………………………………………..

3.2Leech’spolitenessprinciple………………………………………………

4.AnalysisofHumorinFriends………………………………………………

4.1AbriefintroductiontothesitcomFriends………………………………..

4.2Humoranalysisfromthecooperativeprincipleperspective……………..

4.2.1Humorcreatedbyfloutingthemaximofquantity………………....

4.2.1.1Floutingthefirstmaximofquantity………………………...

4.2.1.2Floutingthesecondmaximofquantity……………………...

4.2.2Humorcreatedbyfloutingthemaximofquality..……………….....

4.2.2.1Useofirony………………………………………………….

4.2.2.2Useofmetaphor……………………………………………..

4.2.2.3Useofhyperbole…………………………………………….

4.2.3Humorcreatedbyfloutingthemaximofrelation…………………..

4.2.4Humorcreatedbyfloutingthemaximofmanner…………………..

4.2.4.1Useofparadox………………………………………………

4.2.4.2Useofparody………………………………………………..

4.2.4.3Useofpun…………………………………………………...

4.2.4.3.1Homonymouspun…………………………………

4.2.4.3.2Homophonicpun…………………………………..

4.3Humoranalysisfromthepolitenessprincipleperspective……………….

4.3.1Humorcreatedbyobservingpolitenessprinciple…………………..

4.3.2HumorcreatedbyFloutingpolitenessprinciple…………………....

4.3.2.1Floutingthetactmaxim……………………………………..

4.3.2.2Floutingthegenerositymaxim……………………………...

4.3.2.3Floutingtheapprobationmaxim…………….........................

4.3.2.4Floutingthemodestymaxim………………………………...

4.3.2.5Floutingtheagreementmaxim……………………………...

4.3.2.6Floutingthesympathymaxim……………………………….

5.Conclusion……………………………………………………………………

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………

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内容摘要

幽默在生活中起着举足轻重的作用。

它能缓解矛盾，愉悦人们的心情，调节社会关系。

幽默是一种特殊的语言现象。

对幽默，特别是英语幽默的鉴赏力主要取决于对语言的反应能力。

幽默的话语被说成是语言中最难的，可能就是这个道理。

欣赏英语幽默的语言当然要比欣赏普通的英语语言要难。

“只闻其声，不解其意”的人数有很多。

因此对言语幽默的解读也成为言语研究中的一个重要课题。

本文选取深受我国广大观众喜爱的美国情景喜剧《老友记》中的部分幽默言语事例，从合作原则和礼貌原则两个角度探讨言语幽默,并分析得出违反合作原则及礼貌原则是英语幽默产生的重要源泉。

其中涉及到的英语修辞的应用更是《老友记》中言语幽默生成的重要机制。

本文对人们的笑声背后幽默系统如何运作进行了尝试性的论述,它可以增进我们对美国情景喜剧和日常会话幽默的理解和欣赏。

关键词：

幽默；

合作原则；

礼貌原则；

老友记

Abstract

Humorplaysaveryimportantroleinlife.Itcanrelievestress,keepspeopleingoodmood,andadjustsocialrelationship.Itisaspecialkindoflinguisticform.Inaddition,appreciationofhumor,especiallyEnglishhumor,dependsupontheabilitytorespondtolanguage.Thisisperhapswhyhumorousutterancehasbeenregardedasthemostdifficulttounderstandofallutterances.Certainly,itismoredifficulttounderstandhumorousEnglishlanguagethantocomprehendplainEnglishlanguage.Manypeoplecanunderstandthesentenceinwordsbutcannotthemeaningbetweenthelines.Theinterpretationofhumor,therefore,becomesoneoftheintenselyresearchedareasoflanguagestudy.

ThisthesisintendstoanalyzetheexamplesofverbalhumorintheAmericansitcomFriendswiththehelpofpragmatictheoriesinvolvingCooperativePrincipleandPolitenessPrinciple.ItfindsthatapplyingtheCooperativePrincipleandPolitenessPrincipleistheimportantsourceofEnglishhumor.Moreover,therhetoricappliedtoflouttheCooperativePrincipleisthecrucialmechanismoftheproductionofhumorousutterancesinFriends.Basedontheseanalyses,thedeepstructureofEnglishverbalhumorhasbeententativelyexplored.ThefindingsofthisthesiscanhelptheEnglishlearnerstocomprehendandappreciatetheverbalhumorinEnglishsitcomsaswellasindailycommunication.

Keywords:

humor;

CooperativePrinciple;

PolitenessPrinciple;

Friends

1.Introduction

Humorisaveryinterestingandabsorbingphenomenonofhumansociety.Itispervasiveinourlife.Wecanalmostseeiteverywhere,inliterature,inads,infilms,ontelevision,etc.Humorhassosignificantfunctionsthatithasarousedtheinterestofmanyscholars.Whatcauseshumorhasalwaysbeenamajorconcernofhumorstudies.Forcenturies,scholarsfromvariousdisciplinessuchasphilosophy,sociology,rhetoricandlinguistics,havebeenworkingonit.

Withinthe20thcentury,linguisticstudiesonhumorhaveextendedsubstantiallytosocial,cultural,andpragmaticconcerns.Itisnotlongbeforescholarsapplypragmaticsintohumoranalysis.Forexample,VictorRaskin（1985）argueswhenpeopletelljokes,theyengagethemselvesinnon-bona-fidecommunication.Theirpurposeisnotsomuchofconveyinginformationcontainedinthetextbutrathertocreateaspecialeffect,namelytomakethehearerlaugh.

Thepurposeofthisthesisistoexplorethemechanismsofhumorfromthepragmaticsperspectiveinwhichfounditsinsufficientstudyatthepresenttime.ItiscarriedoutwiththehelpoftheapplicationofCooperativePrincipleandPolitenessPrincipleintoexplainingandanalyzingthehumorinoneofthemostsuccessfulAmericansitcomFriends.Itissincerelyhopedthatthediscussionandanalysiswillhelppeopleexpresshumorandunderstandhumoreffectively.Thedatacomprisesthescriptofthewholeshow（altogether238episodes）andtheDVDs.ThescriptisdownloadedfromtheInternetthroughtheaddress:

Http:

//.

Thethesisconsistsoffivechapters.Chapteroneistheintroduction,whichbrieflytouchesupontherationale,thepurposeandoverallorganizationofthethesis.ChapterTwoistheliteraturereview,whichprovidesthedefinitionofhumor,followedbyaccountsonprevioushumorstudiesathomeandabroad,includingthethreebasicconventionaltheoriesonhumorandthecontemporarylinguisticstudyonhumor.ChapterThreeisthetheoreticalframeworkofthethesis,whichoffersabriefoverviewofthedataresourcesitcomFriends,andpresentsageneraldescriptionoftwotheoriesinpragmatics,includingGrice’sCooperativePrincipleanditsmaxims,Leech’sPolitenessPrinciple.ChapterFouristhemainpartofthethesis,whichappliestwopragmatictheoriesintohumorstudy.ItincludeshumorcreatedbyfloutingCPanditsmaxims,andbyfloutingPP.ThehumorousutterancesinFriendsareanalyzedindetailtoexplorethemechanismofhumor.ChapterFiveistheconclusionofthewholethesis.Itsumsupthemainfindings.

2.LiteratureReview

2.1Thedefinitionofhumor

Humorhasbeenthestudyofmulti-disciplines,butagenerallyagreeddefinitionofhumorhasneverbeenputforward.

Etymologically,accordingtoAttardo（1994）,“humor”isderivedfromtheLatinwordfor“Liquid”or“fluid”andhasmuchtodowiththe“theoryofhumors”ofmedievalmedicine.Throughcenturies,itgraduallylostitsoriginalsenseandcametorefertoaspecificmoodorqualitytounderstand,enjoy,andexpresswhatmakespeoplelaugh.

Generally,dictionarydefinitionofthemodernmeaningofhumorfallintofourcategories:

1）aqualityorcapacityoftheinterlocutor,2）afeatureofthediscourseorsituation,3）theobjectivemanifestation（intheformofliteraryworksorotherdiscoursesortheeventorsituationitself）and4）atechniqueofexpression.（徐立新,2003:

16）

ChinesescholarLinYutang,isthefirstonewhotranslated“humor”as“youmo”intoChineseinearly20thcentury,andheheldtheviewthat“humorisapopularartformtoexpressone’sviewpointandevenperceptionsoftherealworld”（胡范铸,1987:

7-8）.

Althoughdefinitionsmightbedifferent,wecanstillfindsomethingincommon:

humorislaughcausingandneedspeople’sdeepthinking.Therefore,asfarastheauthorisconcerned,humoriskindofadvancedactivitiesofhumanintelligencewhichcanmakepeoplefeelfunnyandlight-hearted.Thus,theauthorwillapplythismeaningtotheanalysisofhumorinAmericansitcomFriends.

2.2Humorstudiesabroad

Theultimatecauseormotivationofhumorhasbeentheconcernofover200theoriesfromdifferentdisciplines（Holland,1982:

24）,mainlypsychology,philosophy,aestheticsandlinguistics.Acommonlyacceptedclassificationdividestraditionaltheoriesofhumorintothreegroups（Attardo,1994:

47）:

superioritytheory,releasetheoryandincongruitytheory.Attardo（1994）labeledthesethreetheoriesas“social”,“psychoanalytical,”and“cognitive”respectively.Generally,theyarecalled“threebasicconventionalhumortheories”.Onthebasisoftheseclassictheories,manynewaccountsforhumorkeepemerging,especiallyfromlinguisticapproach.

Withthedevelopmentofmodernlinguistics,linguisticstudyofhumorbegantoflourishinthelate20thcentury.Studiesofhumorinthisfieldmainlyfocusonthesemanticaspectsofhumorsuchasthesemanticstructure,therhetoricdevices,genres,etc,withsomelaterattentiontopragmaticaspects.Amongthesestudies,Semantic-ScriptTheoryofHumor（SSTH）,GeneralTheoryofVerbalHumor（GTVH）developedbyRaskinandAttardoisconsideredthemostprominentmodernlinguistictheoryofhumor.

Recentyears,variousstudiesofhumorfromthepragmaticperspectivearefruitful.Pepicello（1983）summarizesthelinguisticanalysisofgenresoflinguistichumorandriddlesinparticular.Nash（1985）mailyse