从语用学角度分析情景喜剧老友记中的幽默正文.docx

从语用学角度分析情景喜剧老友记中的幽默正文.docx

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从语用学角度分析情景喜剧老友记中的幽默正文

1.Introduction

Humor,asaparticularwayofhumancommunication,haslongreceivedattentionfromvariouspointsofviews,suchassociology,psychology,philosophyandsoon.ThemaintheoriesincludeSuperiorityTheory,ReliefTheoryandIncongruityTheory.

Recently,moreandmorelinguistsdrawtheirattentiononhumorouseffect.Theydividedhumorintotwoaspects:

situationalhumorandliteralhumor.Withtherapiddevelopmentandbreakthroughofthetheoryonlinguistic,especiallyonpragmatics,linguisticsprovideamuchnewerandwiderviewontheresearchofliteralhumor.Forexample,VictorRaskinargueswhenpeopletelljokes,theyengagethemselvesincommunication.Theirpurposeisnotonlysomuchofconveyinginformationcontainedinthetextbuttocreateaspecialeffect,namelytomakethehearerlaugh.

Thisthesisattemptstoexploretheunderstandingofhumorandhowhumoriscreatedinlinguisticsangle.Tosolvethetwoproblems,theauthormainlyfocusesonthethreemaintheories,whicharecalledSpeechActTheory,theCooperativePrincipleandRelevantTheory.ThroughgreatnumbersofexampleswhichcomefromtheAmericansitcomFriends,itcanbeknownclearlythathumoriscreatedbyagainstthosetheories.InFriends,theactorsfrequentlygoagainstthoselinguistictheoriestoreachtheeffectofhumor.

Thesignificancesofthestudycanbesummarizedasfollows:

Firstly,itclassifiesthekindsofhumorinthesitcomFriendsindetailsandenrichesthetheoriesofhumorandsitcominlinguistics.Toacertainextent,itbroadensthewayofthelinguisticsstudy.

Secondly,tosomeextents,itcanimproveEnglishlearners’comprehensionandinterestsinEnglishhumorandenhancetheirabilityofusingEnglish.Moreover,itmakessignificanceincross-culturalcommunication.Sometimesbeinglackofrelevantculturalknowledgemayleadmisunderstandingandcommunicationfailure.Humor,asausefultoolincommunication,isworthstudying.

2.TheStudyofHumor

Asagoodandpopularwaytocommunication,humoriswidelystudiedbyscholarsfromdifferentareas.However,mostofusknowlittleabouthumor.Sointhissection,ageneralstudyofhumorispresented.

Asaborrowing,theword“humor”isnotcreatedbyChinese.ItisderivedfromLatinword“humere”meaning“tofloworbewet”.InAncientGreek,therewasafamousdoctorandfounderofWesternMedicinecalledHippocrateswhofirstusedtheword“humor”torefertothebodyfluidsandbelievedthebodyfluidswereconsistedbyblood,phlegm,yellowbileandblackbileindifferentproportions.Human’shealthandemotionarecontrolledbythosefourhumors.Forinstance,gloomyiscreatedbytheoverabundantofblackbile.Thewaytosolvethisbademotionistolaughhappily.Asthetimewentby,thiswordhasgraduallylostitsoriginalmeaning.Later,Englishgive“humor”ameaningoffun,laugh,ridicule,comedy,wisdomandsoon.

BenJohnson,themostimportantdramatistoftheEnglishRenaissanceperiod,makesagreatcontributiononthewideuseof“humor”.Onthecontrary,someofhisworksarefamousforhumor.Toalargeextend,thetheoryofhumorcreatedbyJonsonwasacceptedallovertheworld.

ChinesescholarLinYutang,isthefirstonewhotranslated“humor”as“youmo”intoChineseinearly20thcentury,andheheldtheviewthat“humorispopularartformtoexpressone’sviewpointandevenperceptionoftherealworld”（HuFanzhu,1987,7-8）.

InEnglish,“humor”canbewritinginto“humour”,butthereissamedifferencebetweenthetwowords.Andinwesterncountries,“humour”doesnotalwaysrefertofunny.TaketheFrenchforexample,“humour”referstomood.

Differentdictionariesgivesomedifferentdefinitionsofmodernmeaningofhumor.

InCambridgeDictionaryofAmericanEnglish,humoris“theabilitytobeamusedbysomethingseen,heard,orthoughabout,somethingcausingyoutosmileorlaugh,orthequalityinsomethingthatcausessuchamusement.”

InLongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglish,humoris“thequalityinsomethingthatmakesitfunnyamusement”or“theabilitytounderstandandenjoyfunnysituationortolaughatthings.”

InOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,humorequalstohumour.Itputsthegeneralmeaningsofhumortogether.First,humorisjustlikeCambridgeDictionaryofAmericanEnglishsaid;second,humoristhestateofyourfeelingsormindataparticulartime;third,humorisoneofthefourliquidsthatwerethoughtinthepasttobeaperson’sbodyandtoinfluencehealthandcharacter.

Frompsychologicalview,humoristhefeathersinsomethingthatmakepeoplefeelridiculousandunexpected,whilethewaytheyshownisimplicitandmeaningful.

Fromsociologicalview,thesociologicalstudyonhumorpaymoreattentiononhowhumorisusedindailylife.Datingbacktoolddays,SocratesandPlatohasalreadyreferredtothislayerofhumor.AndHobbesgaveafurtherdevelopmentofthistheory.Intheiropinion,humorisawonderfulfeelingwefeeltothosewhoareinferiortousbecauseofsickness,ugliness,incompetenceandsoon.

3.TheoreticalFramework

Inthesecondyearofcollege，thereisacoursecalledANewConciseCourseonLinguisticsforStudentsofEnglish,whichgivesaintroductionofpragmaticindetails:

Pragmaticscanbedefinedinvariousways.Ageneraldefinitionisthatitisthestudyofhowspeakerofalanguageusesentencestoeffectsuccessfulcommunication.Astheprocessofcommunicationisessentiallyaprocessofconveyingandunderstandingmeaninginacertaincontext,pragmaticscanalsoberegardasakindofmeaningstudy.

Pragmaticsstudiessuchtopicsasrelatedtolanguagecommunication,includingdeixis,speechacts,indirectlanguage,conversations,politeness,cross-culturalcommunication,andpresupposition.（DaiWeidong,HeZhaoxiong,2002,84）

Inthischapterwewilltakeabrieflookatsometheorieswhichwillbeusedinthediscussionofhowhumoriscreated.

3.1.SpeechActTheory

3.1.1.Austin’sModelofSpeechActs

Speechacttheoryisanimportanttheoryinthepragmaticstudyoflanguage.Itisalsothefirstmajortheoryinthestudyoflanguageinuse,whichoriginatedwiththeBritishphilosopherJohnAustininthelate50’softhe20thcentury.Itaimstoanswerthequestion“whatdowedowhenusingthelanguage?

”

ThefirstopinionofAustin’stheoryistheclaimthattherearetwotypesofsentences:

performativesandconstatives.Iftheutteringofthesentencesisapartofdoingofanaction,thesentencesarecalledperformatives.Andverbslikebequeatharecalledperformativeverbs.

E.g.Ibequeathmywatchtomysister.

InamemychildCecilia.

Onthecontrary,constativesaredescriptionofwhatthespeakerisdoingatthemomentofspeaking.

Inhis“HowtoDoThingswithWords”,Austinpointsoutthatperformativesdonotdescribethings,sotheycannotbesaidtobetrueorfalse.However,therearesomeconditionstomeetandcomplywith,whichAustincalledFELICITYCONDITIONS.Asimplifiedversionispresentasfollows:

（JohnAustin,1962,14-15）

A（i）Theremustbearelevantconventionalprocedure,and

（ii）Therelevantparticipantsandcircumstancesmustbeappropriate.

BTheproceduremustbeexecuted（ｉ）correctlyand（ii）completely

CVeryoften,（ｉ）therelevantpeoplemusthavetherequisitethoughts,feelingsandintentions,and（ii）mustfollowitupwithactionsasspecified.

Thus,thepersonwhobequeathshiswatchmusthaveawatch;thepeoplewhogivehisbaby’snamemusthaveababyandhehastherighttoname.

Withhisfurtherstudyinthefield,Austinfinallyrealizesthat“constative”isalsoakindof“performative”,becauseallthesentencecanbeusedtodothings.

InthelatterpartofHowtoDoThingswithWords,Austinmadeafreshstateontheproblemandconsidereditfromthegroundupagain,i.e.inwhatsensetosaysomethingistodosomething.Austindistinguishedthreebasicsensesinwhichinsayingsomethingoneisdoingsomethingandthreekindsofactsareperformedsimultaneously:

（StephenC.Levinson,2005,236）

a）LocutionaryAct:

Itmeansthatwhenwespeak,wemoveourvocalorgansandproduceanumberofsoundswithacertainmeaning.

b）IllocutionaryAct:

Itisusingasentencetoperformafunction.

c）PerlocutionaryAct:

Itistheresultoreffectthatisproducedbymeaningsofsayingsomething.

Ofthethreespeechacts,linguistsaremoreinterestedintheillocutionaryactbecausethiskindofspeechactisidenticalwiththespeaker’sintention,andintheirstudyoflanguagecommunication,linguisticsaremostinterestedinhowspeakerexpresshisintentionandalsohowhisintentionisrecognizedbythehearer.（DaiWeidong,HeZhaoxiong,2002,89）

3.1.2.Searle’sClassificationofSpeechActs

Inthe1960’sto1970’s,amountofscholarswereinterestedinthestudyofspeechacttheory.OneofthosewhomadenotablecontributionstoitistheAmericanphilosopherlinguistJohnSearle.

OneofthecontributionsSearlehasmadeishisclassificationofillocutionaryacts,whichissomethingAustinhadtriedtodobutdidnotdoverysuccessfully.AccordingtoSearle,speechactsfallintofivecategories.Inotherwords,therearefivegeneraltypesofthingswedowithlanguage:

（JohnSearle,2003,34）

1.representatives:

statingordescribing,sayingwhatthespeakerbelieveistrue

2.directives:

tryingtogetthehearertodosomething

3.commissives:

committingthespeakerhimselftosomefuturescourseofaction

4.expressives:

expressingfeelingsorattitudetowardsanexistingstate

5.declarations:

bringingaboutimmediatechangesbysayingsomething

3.2.TheCooperativePrinciple

Thesecondmajortheoryinpragmaticsi