英语系本科论文电子模板.docx

1、英语系本科论文电子模板分类号 密级 U D C 编号 华中师范大学本科毕业论文（设计）题目老友记中言语幽默的语用分析 院 （系） 外国语学院 专 业 英 语 年 级 2006级 学生姓名 魏 娜 学 号 2006572163 指导教师 尹 蔚 二O一O年四月A Pragmatic Analysis of Verbal Humor in FriendsA thesis submitted to the faculty of CCNUIn partial fulfillment of the requirements for BA degree In English Language and Li

2、teratureby Wei NaSupervisor: Yin WeiAcademic Title: Lecturer Signature: April 2010ContentsAbstract in Chinese iAbstract in English .ii1. Introduction.2. Literature Review2.1 The definition of humor.2.2 Humor studies abroad.2.3 Humor studies at home3. Theoretical Framework.3.1 Grices cooperative prin

3、ciple.3.2 Leechs politeness principle4. Analysis of Humor in Friends 4.1 A brief introduction to the sitcom Friends. 4.2 Humor analysis from the cooperative principle perspective.4.2.1 Humor created by flouting the maxim of quantity. 4.2.1.1 Flouting the first maxim of quantity. 4.2.1.2 Flouting the

4、 second maxim of quantity.4.2.2 Humor created by flouting the maxim of quality. 4.2.2.1 Use of irony. 4.2.2.2 Use of metaphor. 4.2.2.3 Use of hyperbole.4.2.3 Humor created by flouting the maxim of relation.4.2.4 Humor created by flouting the maxim of manner. 4.2.4.1 Use of paradox 4.2.4.2 Use of par

5、ody. 4.2.4.3 Use of pun. 4.2.4.3.1 Homonymous pun 4.2.4.3.2 Homophonic pun.4.3 Humor analysis from the politeness principle perspective.4.3.1 Humor created by observing politeness principle.4.3.2 Humor created by Flouting politeness principle.4.3.2.1 Flouting the tact maxim.4.3.2.2 Flouting the gene

6、rosity maxim.4.3.2.3 Flouting the approbation maxim. 4.3.2.4 Flouting the modesty maxim. 4.3.2.5 Flouting the agreement maxim. 4.3.2.6 Flouting the sympathy maxim.5. ConclusionBibliography111233357791010101112121213131416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

7、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Abstrac

8、tHumor plays a very important role in life. It can relieve stress, keeps people in good mood, and adjust social relationship. It is a special kind of linguistic form. In addition, appreciation of humor, especially English humor, depends upon the ability to respond to language. This is perhaps why hu

9、morous utterance has been regarded as the most difficult to understand of all utterances. Certainly, it is more difficult to understand humorous English language than to comprehend plain English language. Many people can understand the sentence in words but cannot the meaning between the lines. The

10、interpretation of humor, therefore, becomes one of the intensely researched areas of language study. This thesis intends to analyze the examples of verbal humor in the American sitcom Friends with the help of pragmatic theories involving Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle. It finds that

11、applying the Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle is the important source of English humor. Moreover, the rhetoric applied to flout the Cooperative Principle is the crucial mechanism of the production of humorous utterances in Friends. Based on these analyses, the deep structure of English

12、 verbal humor has been tentatively explored. The findings of this thesis can help the English learners to comprehend and appreciate the verbal humor in English sitcoms as well as in daily communication.Key words: humor; Cooperative Principle; Politeness Principle; Friends1. IntroductionHumor is a ve

13、ry interesting and absorbing phenomenon of human society. It is pervasive in our life. We can almost see it everywhere, in literature, in ads, in films, on television, etc. Humor has so significant functions that it has aroused the interest of many scholars. What causes humor has always been a major

14、 concern of humor studies. For centuries, scholars from various disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, rhetoric and linguistics, have been working on it.Within the 20th century, linguistic studies on humor have extended substantially to social, cultural, and pragmatic concerns. It is not long be

15、fore scholars apply pragmatics into humor analysis. For example, Victor Raskin (1985) argues when people tell jokes, they engage themselves in non-bona-fide communication. Their purpose is not so much of conveying information contained in the text but rather to create a special effect, namely to mak

16、e the hearer laugh.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the mechanisms of humor from the pragmatics perspective in which found its insufficient study at the present time. It is carried out with the help of the application of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle into explaining and anal

17、yzing the humor in one of the most successful American sitcom Friends. It is sincerely hoped that the discussion and analysis will help people express humor and understand humor effectively. The data comprises the script of the whole show (altogether 238 episodes) and the DVDs. The script is downloa

18、ded from the Internet through the address: Http:/.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction, which briefly touches upon the rationale, the purpose and overall organization of the thesis. Chapter Two is the literature review, which provides the definition of humor, followe

19、d by accounts on previous humor studies at home and abroad, including the three basic conventional theories on humor and the contemporary linguistic study on humor. Chapter Three is the theoretical framework of the thesis, which offers a brief overview of the data resource sitcom Friends, and presen

20、ts a general description of two theories in pragmatics, including Grices Cooperative Principle and its maxims, Leechs Politeness Principle. Chapter Four is the main part of the thesis, which applies two pragmatic theories into humor study. It includes humor created by flouting CP and its maxims, and

21、 by flouting PP. The humorous utterances in Friends are analyzed in detail to explore the mechanism of humor. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the whole thesis. It sums up the main findings.2. Literature Review2.1 The definition of humorHumor has been the study of multi-disciplines, but a generally

22、 agreed definition of humor has never been put forward.Etymologically, according to Attardo (1994), “humor” is derived from the Latin word for “Liquid” or “fluid” and has much to do with the “theory of humors” of medieval medicine. Through centuries, it gradually lost its original sense and came to

23、refer to a specific mood or quality to understand, enjoy, and express what makes people laugh.Generally, dictionary definition of the modern meaning of humor fall into four categories: 1) a quality or capacity of the interlocutor, 2) a feature of the discourse or situation, 3) the objective manifest

24、ation (in the form of literary works or other discourses or the event or situation itself) and 4) a technique of expression. (徐立新, 2003:16)Chinese scholar Lin Yutang, is the first one who translated “humor” as “you mo” into Chinese in early 20th century, and he held the view that “humor is a popular

25、 art form to express ones viewpoint and even perceptions of the real world” (胡范铸, 1987:7- 8).Although definitions might be different, we can still find something in common: humor is laugh causing and needs peoples deep thinking. Therefore, as far as the author is concerned, humor is kind of advanced

26、 activities of human intelligence which can make people feel funny and light-hearted. Thus, the author will apply this meaning to the analysis of humor in American sitcom Friends.2.2 Humor studies abroadThe ultimate cause or motivation of humor has been the concern of over 200 theories from differen

27、t disciplines (Holland, 1982: 24), mainly psychology, philosophy, aesthetics and linguistics. A commonly accepted classification divides traditional theories of humor into three groups (Attardo, 1994: 47): superiority theory, release theory and incongruity theory. Attardo (1994) labeled these three

28、theories as “social”, “psychoanalytical,” and “cognitive” respectively. Generally, they are called “three basic conventional humor theories”. On the basis of these classic theories, many new accounts for humor keep emerging, especially from linguistic approach.With the development of modern linguist

29、ics, linguistic study of humor began to flourish in the late 20th century. Studies of humor in this field mainly focus on the semantic aspects of humor such as the semantic structure, the rhetoric devices, genres, etc, with some later attention to pragmatic aspects. Among these studies, Semantic-Scr

30、ipt Theory of Humor (SSTH), General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) developed by Raskin and Attardo is considered the most prominent modern linguistic theory of humor.Recent years, various studies of humor from the pragmatic perspective are fruitful. Pepicello (1983) summarizes the linguistic analysis of genres of linguistic humor and riddles in particular. Nash (1985) maily se