摘要:美国情景喜剧《老友记》中的言语幽默在一定程度上阻碍了英语学习者对该喜剧的欣赏。本文以语用学的合作原则和会话含义理论为基础,从幽默会话对合作原则及其次准则的蔑视现象以及幽默会话中的隐含意义两个方面对美国情景喜剧《老友记》中的言语幽默进行了探讨,并分析了《老友记》中的言语幽默效果。本研究有助于提高英语学习者欣赏该喜剧,同时提高学习者理解美式幽默的能力。
关键词: 言语幽默 《老友记》 合作原则 会话含义
Abstract: The verbal humor in the famous American sitcom Friends, to a certain degree, prevents the English learners from appreciating the sitcom effectively. This thesis, based on Cooperative Principle (CP) and Conversational Implicature Theory, analyses how verbal humor flouts each of the four maxims in Cooperative Principal and how to understand the implied meaning behind the humorous conversations. Meanwhile, the effects of verbal humor are illustrated in details. The study is sure to help English learners to appreciate the sitcom and improve their ability in understanding the American humor.
Key Words: verbal humor Friends Cooperative Principle Conversational Implicature
Chapter 1 Introduction
In Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (1997:863), the notion of humor is the quality in something that makes it funny or amusing; or the ability to laugh at things that are amusing. In particular, verbal humor plays an important and irreplaceable role in entertaining people in sitcoms so that it is one of the most commonly accepted language features in sitcoms. It is a fact that sitcoms catch high attention of audience worldwide. In American, people devote amount of their free time to the sitcoms mostly due to their entertainment effects. The popularity of sitcoms indicates that the advantages of humor include conveying additional pleasure, relieving the monotony of everyday life and easing interpersonal conflict, etc.