从关联理论看言语幽默Word文档格式.docx
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从关联理论看言语幽默Word文档格式.docx
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Tutor:
LiXiang
(CollegeofForeignLanguages,HunanAgriculturalUniversity,Changsha410128)
Abstract:
Verbalhumorisausualphenomenoninhumancommunication.Ithasattractedtheattensionofmanyresearchersinmanyfieldssuchasphilosophy,aesthetics,physiology,sociology,psychologyandlinguistics.Inthefieldoflinguistics,someexplorationshavealreadybeenmadeinregardtoitssemanticandrhetoricalaspects,butdueattentionhasnotbeenpaidtoitinpragmaticsinthatineverydayverbalcommunication,humorousutterancesareeasytoenjoybuthardtodefine.Apartfromitscapabilityoflaughter-making,languagehumorismoreoftenthannot,producedtoimplicitlyperformsomecommunicativefunctions,notachievablebyexplicitexpressions.RelevanceTheorywasputforwardbySperberandWilsonin1986aimstoexplainhowtheaudienceinfersthecommunicator'
sintendedmeaning.Inthispaper,acognitiveapproachtohumorisadoptedwithintheframeworkoftheRelevanceTheorytoelaboratetherealizingprocessofverbalhumorandlearnhowtoappreciateverbalhumor.
Keywords:
VerbalHumor;
RelevanceTheory;
CognitiveEffects;
ProcessingEffort
作者:
李怡娴
指导老师:
李湘
(湖南农业大学外国语学院,长沙410128)
摘要:
言语幽默是人们的交际行为中一种常见的语言现象,许多学者已从心理学,社会学等方面进行过广泛而深入的研究。
在语言学方面,也从语义修辞的角度进行了详细的探讨,然而语用学这一语言学的分支,还未对幽默语言的研究引起高度注意,原因在于在日常交际中,幽默语言易于欣赏,却难于把握。
幽默语言不但生动有趣,另人捧腹,而且更主要的是在引人发笑的过程中还传递着其他的交际含义或意图。
关联理论于1986年由Sperber和Wilson提出,它旨在揭示听话者对发话者话语意义的推理理解过程。
本文以关联理论为分析工具,从认知的角度出发,对言语幽默的实现过程进行分析研究,阐述了幽默发出者交际意图的实现过程,从而揭示了在关联理论视角下的幽默的产生,并学会如何欣赏言语幽默。
关键词:
言语幽默;
关联理论;
语境效果;
处理努力
Introduction
Inourdailylife,‘humor’isawordthatisfrequentlyused.Peopleenjoyhumorbecausetheycanderivegreatpleasureandrelaxationfromit.Overthecenturies,writersofdiverseinterestshaveattemptedtodefineit,tosupplyreasonsforit,andtoanalyzeit.Nevertheless,mostworksonhumortendtobeconcernedwiththemessuchasitsphysiological,psychologicalandsociologicalaspectsandincomparisonfewerinhistoryhaveworkedonthelinguisticaspectsofthecomicmode.Itiscertainlynotthecasethatnoattentionhasbeenpaidtolinguisticinvestigationsofhumor.However,ifwecomparetheeffortsinthisareawitheffortsinotherresearchareassuchastranslationtheoryandpractice,AmericanandBritishliteratureandteachingmethodology,thenwehavetoadmitthattheamountofattentionisstillminimal.
Uptonow,agreatdealofresearchhasbeendonefromtheviewpointofpsychologyandsociology.Inthefieldoflinguistics,someexplorationshavealreadybeenmadeinregardtoitssemanticandrhetoricalaspects,butdueattentionhasnotbeenpaidtoitinpragmatics.
Intheeightiesoflastcentury,cognitivepragmaticsarosewhenthecognitivestudyoflanguageincommunicationbecameincreasinglyimportantinthefieldofthepresentcognitivelinguistics.RelevanceTheory(RT),putforwardbySperberandWilson,isthebasisofcognitivepragmatics.Mainlyconcernedwithcommunicationandcognition,RTtriestorevealthenatureofcommunicationandprovideapsychologicalexplanationoftheinterpretationunfoldedintheaudience'
smind.
Basically,wecoulddividehumorintoverbalhumor,visualhumorandphysicalhumor.Verbalhumorisausualphenomenoninhumancommunication.Itisaninterdisciplinarysubjectconnectedwithawiderangeoflearning.Asaspecialkindofverbalcommunication,verbalhumorcanavoidembarrassment,andimprovetherelationshipofthedifferentpeople.Thestudyofverbalhumorisofgreatpracticalvalue.RelevanceTheory(RT)providesabrandnewangletointerpretverbalhumor,thatis,fromthecognitivepointofview.Itisnotatheoryspeciallydesignedfortheanalysisofverbalhumor,butitstheoreticalhypothesesaresuitabletodealwithhowhumorousutterancesareproducedandinterpreted.
ThisthesisattemptstoexplaintheprocedureofproductionandunderstandingfromthecognitiveperspectivewiththesupportofRelevanceTheory.Byusingthetwoprinciplesthemaximalrelevance(cognitiveprinciple)andoptimalrelevance(communicativeprinciple),ittriestorevealtheessenceofverbalhumor:
thetransitionfromthemaximalrelevancetotheoptimalrelevance.
Thisthesiscomprisesthefourparts:
Partoneintroducesthenotionabouthumorandreviewsrelatedliteratureonverbalhumorfromtheanglesofpragmatics.Parttwodescribestherelevancetheory,includingthedefinitionofrelevance,context,twoprinciplesofrelevance,cognitiveeffectandprocessingeffort,andoptimalrelevance.Partthreeanalyzestheproductionandthecomprehensionofverbalhumoronthebasisofrelevancetheory.Partfourgivesaconclusiontothewholepaper.
1OverviewofVerbalHumor
Inthissection,introducesthedefinitionabout“humor”exploredfirst.Thenliteraryreviewonthenotionofverbalhumorispresented.
1.1Humor
Togivehumoranexactdefinitionisnotsoeasy.Formanycenturies,theresearchersincludingphilosophers,psychologists,aestheticians,sociologistshavebeentryingtheirbesttodefineit.Itturnsoutquiteafewdefinitionsbutthereisnoonethatcanmeetwitheverybody'
ssatisfaction.However,peoplehavenotbeendefeatedbythedifficultiestheyhavemetwithintheircourseofdefining.Onthecontrary,theyarestillontheirwayoftryingtogiveitascientificdefinition.
Mindess(1971)defineshumoras“aframeofmind,amannerofperceivingandexperiencinglife.Itisakindofoutlook,apeculiarpointofviewandonewhichhasgreattherapeuticpower”.Frysays,“humorisplay”[1].“Ajokemaybedefinedasanitemofhumorreducedtoasinglepointorparticle”,writesLeacockinanunfunnytone(1937),“Itrepresentsthebreakingupofhumorousmatterintoitselementssothatonecanexamineandappreciateonelittlebitofitwithoutanyextraneouscontext.Onemightsaythatajokeisaself-containedhumorousthought”.[2]Koestler(1974)providesustheentryof‘humor’withaconcretedefinitionasatypeofstimulationthattendstoelicitthelaughterreflex.
Giventhefactthatthereexistdiverseideasconcerningwhathumoris,butnosingledefinitionhasbeenwidelyaccepted,weholdtheviewthatnosingledefinitioncandescribeorexplainadequatelywhathumoris.Differentideasontheissue“whathumoris”mayholdorbevalidateonlywithincertainspecificfields,butnotnecessarilyalldisciplines.
1.2VerbalHumor
Astotheclassificationsofhumor,wearegoingtodividehumorintotwogroups:
situational-orientedhumorandlinguistic-orientedhumor,orinotherwords,situationalhumorandverbalhumor.AccordingtoPocheptsov,humorcategorizedintotwomajorgroups-situationalhumorandlanguagehumoralsocanbeverbalhumor.Sincesituationalhumorhaslittletodowithlanguage,itwillnotbetakenintoaccountinthisdissertation.Therefore,thisdissertationischieflylimitedtothelatterkind-verbalhumor.Forthepurposeofthisdissertation,inwhichverbalhumoristheclassofhumorweareinterestedin,wetentativelydefineverbalhumorasatypeofcommunicationwhich:
(a)establishesakindofamusingorabsurdincongruity;
and(b)isconveyedinlanguage.
Theobjectoftheresearchisthejoke-carryingtext,inwhichthetextotherthananynon-verbalsituationistheinitiatorofthejoke.Sinceitiseasiertointroduceanewtheorybyillustratingitwiththehelpofsimplesamples,theemphasisisplacedinthedissertationonthemostelementary,self-contained,conversationaljoke.
2RelevanceTheory:
ABriefSurvey
RelevancetheorywasformallyproposedbyDanSpenserandBritishscholarDeirdreWilsonintheirbookRelevance:
communicationandcognitionin1986andthesecondeditionin1995.ItisactuallybasedonGrice’sCooperativePrinciple(CP)theory,andreducesallthemaximstoasingleprinciple-theprincipleofrelevance.
Relevancetheoryisnotarule-basedormaxim-basedsystem.Itisbasedonaveryfewsimpleideas.First,thateveryutterancehasavarietyofpossibleinterpretations(thatis,differentcombinationsofexplicitcontext,context,andimplicatures),allcompatiblewiththeinformationthatislinguisticallyencoded.Second,thatnotalltheseinterpretationsareequallyaccessibletotheheareronanygivenoccasion.Third,thatthehearersareequippedwithasingle,verygeneralcriterionforevaluatinginterpretationsastheyoccurtothem.Forth,thatthiscriterionispowerfulenoughtoexcludeallbutatmostasinglepossibleinterpretationsothatthehearerisentitledtoassumethatthefirstinterpretationthatmeetsthecriterionistheonlyone.
ThecriterionproposedinRelevancedevelopsfromabasicassumptionabouthumancognition,thatis“humancognitionisrelevance-oriented:
wepayattentiononlytotheinformationthatseemsrelevanttous”[3].Nowinverbalcommunication,everyutterancestartsoutasarequestforthehearer'
sattention.Itissupposedtocreateanexpectationofrelevance.Itisaroundthisexpectationofrelevancethatanewexplanatorypragmatictheoryisbuilt.
2.1DefinitionofRelevance
RelevanceisdefinedbySperberandWilson(1986)intermsofcognitiveeffectsandprocessingeffort.Cognitiveeffectsareachievedwhennewly-presentedinformationinteractswithacontextofexistingassumptionsinoneofthefollowingthreeways:
(a)Bystrengtheninganexistingassumption.
(b)Bycontradictingandeliminatinganexistingassumption.
(c)Bycombiningwithanexistingassumptiontoyieldacontextualimplication(thatis,conclusionsderivedfromnewinformationandcontexttogether,butfromneithernewinformationnorcontexta
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- 关 键 词:
- 关联 理论 言语 幽默
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