Comparative Analysis of Humorous Discourses.docx

Comparative Analysis of Humorous Discourses.docx

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ComparativeAnalysisofHumorousDiscourses

ComparativeAnalysisofHumorousDiscourses

Acknowledgements

DuringthetimewhenIworkingonthisthesis,Iwouldliketoextendmysinceregratitudetoallthepeoplewhohavehelpedmewithmythesis.

Firstofall,hightributeshallbepaidtomysupervisorProf.WeiBenli,whohasguidedmeintheprocessofmythesis.

Second,IamalsodeeplyindebtedtoalltheothertutorsandteachersinSandafortheirdirectandindirecthelptome.

Finally,specialthanksshouldgotomyfamilyandfriendswhohaveputconsiderabletimeandeffortintotheircommentsonmythesis.

Abstract

Humorisauniqueproductofhumancivilization,whichisshownthroughthelanguagedialogue.Inthisway,throughthecomparativestudyofChineseandEnglish,itcannotonlyhelplanguagelearnerstounderstandthephenomenonofhumor,butalsoaddadifferentcolorindailyconversation,writingandotheraspectsalso.

Lifehasawidevarietyofhumor,andbothChineseandEnglishhasnolackofhumor.Itwillexistinthewrittenwords,providesomeentertainmentandamusementforusreaders,andalsoexistindailyconversation,whichprovidessomethoughtsbeyondentertainment.AsaChineseEnglishlearner,wemustlearntoappreciatethelanguage,especiallyinbeautyofhumorousdiscourses,soweshouldlearnandunderstandhumorousdiscoursestoimprovereadinginterest,readingappreciationability,andenhancetheabilityofinterculturalcommunication.

Thispaperdescribesthedefinitionofhumor,functionsandnature,andareviewoftheresearchprogressinpsychologyandlinguisticsaspectsofhumorousdiscourse.ThroughthecomparativestudyofChineseandEnglishhumorhistory,thisthesisisthedevelopmentprocessofChineseandEnglishhumorousdiscourses,aswellasthecontrastiveanalysisoflinguisticaspects,concerningtheircausesanddifferences.Theresearchresultsofthisthesiscanbeabitinstructiveintheappreciationofhumorousdiscourses.

摘要

幽默是人类文明独有的产物，是通过语言对话来展现的。

这样，通过对中西方言语幽默的对比研究不仅能帮助语言学习者更好的理解幽默现象，而且在会话，写作等方面也会增添别样的色彩。

生活中有各种各样的幽默，汉语英语都不缺乏，它会存在于语言文字幽默，给我们读者提供一些消遣和娱乐，也会存在于日常会话当中，提供娱乐之外的一些思考。

作为汉语英语的学习者，我们必须学会欣赏语言，尤其是语言中的幽默美，所以我们应该去学习、理解幽默话语从而提高阅读兴趣、阅读鉴赏能力，进而增强跨文化交际的能力。

本文首先讨论了幽默的定义，功能和本质，并回顾了幽默话语在心理学以及语言学方面的一些研究进展。

通过中英幽默话语历史起源的对比研究，本文从中英幽默话语的发展历程角度进行了语言学方面的对比分析，涉及中英文幽默话语的不同点以及导致的原因。

本文的研究结论对欣赏幽默话语具有一定的启发作用。

关键词：

幽默话语，起源与发展，语言学分析

Contents

Acknowledgements1

Abstract2

摘要3

Contents4

1.Introduction5

1.1Cognitionofhumor5

1.2Generalideaandstructure6

2.LiteratureReview7

2.1Definitionsofhumor7

2.2Humorousdiscourse8

2.2.1Psychologicalapproaches8

2.2.2Linguisticapproaches9

3.HistoricalComparisonofhumorousdiscourse10

3.1OriginofhumorinChinese10

3.2OriginofhumorinEnglish11

4.DevelopmentofChineseandEnglishhumor12

4.1Chinesehumor13

4.2Englishhumor13

5.Theircausesanddifferences15

5.1Differenceinnationalcharacters15

5.2Differenceinaimsandideologies15

5.3Differenceinwayofthinking16

5.4Englishhumor17

6.Conclusion18

References…………….…………….…………….……………...…….19

1.Introduction

1.1Cognitionofhumor

Humorousdiscourseisaregularlinguisticphenomenonwhichbringsusacolorful,fascinatinglife.Inadditiontotheenjoyment,thepragmaticfunctionofhumordiscoursecan’tbeneglected.Humorousdiscoursepromotesabetterinterpersonalrelationship,encouragingpeopletofacedifficultiesactively.Nowadaysusinghumorousdiscoursecorrectlywillpromotethecommunicationdevelopingsuccessfully.ByresearchingthehumordiscourseofthoseEnglishspeakingcountries,Englishlearnerscangainmoreinformationabouttheirculture.Wecanunderstandtheirwayofhumorandwillnotcausecommunicationbarriersbecauseofdifferentculture.Learningtheessenceofothercountries’humorculturetoenrichourswillmakeourChinesehumorculturemuchcolorfulinacertainextent.What’smore,undertheeconomicglobalization,culturalcommunicationbecomemorefrequent,thusthediversityofhumorousdiscoursewillbroadenourmind.

Maybewedon’trealizebutwecan’tdenythathumorisimportantandnecessary.Humorcanchangeourcultureandlives,mindsandexperiences.Wedoneedhumorwhateverindailylife,academyorpolitics.Theexistenceanduseofhumorisacommonsociolinguisticsphenomenon.Humorplaysaveryimportantroleinexpressingpeople’sidealsandcommunication.Thecharmofhumorousdiscoursebasesonspeakers’uniquelanguageskillsandlanguage’sculturebackground.HumorisadistinctfeatureofEnglishlanguage.Tomakesurethatcross-culturalcommunicationiscarryingonsmoothly,howeverunderstandinghumorousdiscourseofEnglishspeakingcountryisquiteimportant.Insocialcommunication,peoplemayhavesomeawkwardness.Inordertoavoidtheawkwardness,thisarticlecomingwiththedefinition,production,constitution,waysofusingroundlycompareandanalyzethehumorousdiscoursebetweenChineseandEnglish.

1.2Generalideaandstructure

Humorhasbeenthesubjectofmanyscholarsandhasplayedanimportantroleintheworkofmanygreatwriters.Butwhatismeantby“humor”?

Andwhatisthenatureof“humor”?

Manyscholarstrytoanswerthesequestionsfromthevariousfields.Nowadays,humorhasmuchmoreconnectionswithlinguistics,becauselanguageandhumorhaveinseparablerelation.First,languagehasbecomethethemeofhumorousdiscourse.Second,thecomprehension,appreciation,anddevelopmentofhumoraredeterminedtoalargedegree,bytheculturalattitudesandvaluesassociatedwithitandbytheuseandfunctionoflanguageinsociety.

ThispaperwilldiscusstheoriginanddevelopmentofhumorousdiscoursesinChineseandEnglishconcerningtheircausesanddifferences.Regardinghumorousdiscourseasavaluableresourcesinsteadoflifelessrules.Inordertohelppeoplehaveabetterunderstandingorappreciationofhumorousdiscourses,thisthesistakeintoaccountmanyscholar’sviewofhumortheoriesandthecomparisonandanalysisofhumorinbothlanguages.

2.Literaturereview

2.1Definitionsofhumor

Thereareplentyofresourcesaboutwhatishumorwhilethedefinitionshavealargediversity.Humorcanbeakindoffluidinbody,adispositionofcharacteristicsorhabits.Humormaybeaquality,mindorakindofhobby.Someonemakeshumorapositiveattitudeandalifestyle.Othersmakeitanabilitytoexpress,discoverandappreciatethefunnypartandtheabsolutelyincongruous.Humorisalsocreatedtobelaughableandentertaining.

“Humor”isoriginatedfromtheword“（h）ūmōr-（h）ūmor”for“liquid”or“fluid”inLatin（XuLixin2003:

1）,andhasagreatrelationwiththe“theoryofhumors”inMedievalmedicine（Attardo1994:

9）.Duringtheearlywesternperiod,Hippocrates（460BC-377?

BC）createdthephysiologicaltheory,andhumorisregardedasoneofthefourfluidsinhumanbody:

First,blood（representingheatemanatingfromthehuman’sheart,）,phlegm（representingcoldcomingfromthehuman’sbrain,）,choler（representingdryness,secretedbytheliver,yellowbile）,andmelancholy（representingwater,originatinginthespleenandstomach,blackbile）.Thealternatemixingthese“humors”indifferentpeoplewereconsideredtomodifytheirqualitiesbothphysicallyandmentally,aswellasthedispositionsofthem.Animbalanceofthesefourfluidsresultedindisease（Humphrey1982:

36;Chen1988:

14;McHenry1993:

123）.Bythe16thcentury,“humor”actuallybecameastupidactionorshortcoming.Then,severalcenturieslater,thetermofhumorhadbecometouseinone’sstateofmindormoodgenerally.

Jonson（1527-1637）consideredthedefinitionofhumorthatitisaverystrongqualityofapersonwhichallhisfeelings,desiresandtalentobeyandunderwhichtheyallchaseinthesamedirection,sharessomesameideaswiththeconceptofhumorinthemiddleages.

Whileinmodernusage,humorisdefinedtobeakindofqualityormood,anddifferentfromitsoriginalusage.

Inphysiologicalpart,humorisconsideredtobeameansofcommunicationwhichwillbringamusementilluminatesorleadtoafacialreaction:

thereactionoflaughing.Inthisway,itisthemostscientificdefinitionofhumorandtheleastcontroversial.Spontaneouslylaughingisproducedbythefifteenfacialmuscles’coordinatedcontractioninastereotypedpatternandaccompaniedbyalteredbreathing（Koestler1993:

626）.

Ingeneral,thedefinitionsofhumorisdividedintofourcategories:

acapacityorqualityofaspeaker,asituationofthediscourseorfeature,theobjectiveexpression（intheformoftheevent,situationitself,literaryworks,orotherdiscourses）andaskillofexpression.

2.2Humorousdiscourse

2.2.1PsychologicalApproaches

Psychologicalanalysesoflinguistichumorhavebeenbasedonthenotionofincongruityandresolution（Pepicello1983:

73）.Whatisincongruity?

Incongruitymeansthatthesituationornatureofthingscontradictingitself.Beattiethoughthumoristhecombineoftwowronglymatchedidea.KantandSchopenhauerconsideredthatincongruityisanimportantelementofproducinghumor.Oneofthenecessaryconditionsofhumoristhedifferencebetweenexpectationandrealitywhichisincongruity.InSuls’view,incongruityisamajorrequisiteinjudgingdiscoursesarehumorousornot.

Theabilityofproducing,understandingandappreciatinghumorousdiscoursesmakeagreatinfluenceonculturalintercommunicationandinteraction.Detailedandcomprehensiveresearchonhumorwillenhancetheinteractivedevelopmentofothersubjectssuchasscience,psychology,sociology,cross-culturecommunicationandsoon.AlthoughtheexplorationofhumororiginatedfromancientGreek,allthetimethisresearchfieldpresentingthesituationofahun