语用学视角下《吉米今夜秀》的幽默话语研究

Introduction 

Research Background 
With  the  accelerating  development  of  science  and  technology,  television,  as  a kind of more direct cultural medium and carrier,  is gradually replacing the status of traditional  print  media  and  it  also  plays  a  more  and  more  important  role  in  the intercultural  communication.  Talk  Show,  a  kind  of  TV  program,  which  becomes more  and  more  popular  in  China  these  years,  is  originated  in  the  18th  century  in England.  But  it  gets  fast  development  in  the  USA  instead.  The  talk  show  usually focuses on some social problems which are concerned by the public. Meanwhile this kind of program has set more or less influence on the society  and the public.  In the USA  the  number  of  various  TV  talk  shows  takes  about  40  percent  of  the  total number  of  the  TV  programs  shown  on  the  TV  screen,  which  can  be  regarded  as  a carrier  of  the  great  changes  both  in  culture  and  in  society,  for  the  content  of  the shows  is  closely  related  to  political,  economic,  cultural  and  social  development.  So talk show has always been a hot topic for studies. American  talk  show  has  already  become  a  very  important  part  of  Chinese audience‘s daily life since it was introduced to China. For its witty humor, interesting content but reflecting every aspect of American life with humanistic humor, TV talk show  provides  for  the  audience  a  way  to  understand  and  experience  the  American social and cultural life as well as a good way for English learning. Both domestic and foreign researchers have studied it from various aspects, for example  the  strategies  of  the  how  the  talk  show  form  its  way  to  spread  to  the Americans, how the talk show its influence on the Americans‘ live and so on, among which  the  humorous  utterances  of  the  talk  show  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most popular aspects that the researchers focus on in their academic studies. 
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Research Question 
The  researcher  attempts  to  analyze  the  verbal  humor  in  the  famous  TV  talk show,The  Tonight  Show  Starring  Jimmy  Fallonvia  applying  Sperber  and  Wilson‘s relevance theory. This thesis tries to answer the following questions:  1.  How  is  the  relevance  theory  applied  to  produce  humorous  effect  in  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon? 2. Why the relevance theory has an explanatory power in explaining the English verbal humor? 3. What factors lead to failure in interpreting English verbal humor? This  thesis  focuses  on  the  three  research  questions  put  forward  above  and discusses the verbal humor which is selected from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon based on the framework of the relevance theory. 
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Chapter One Literature Review 

Humor  is  an  indispensable  part  in  our  daily  verbal  communication.  If  the generating mechanism of verbal humor can be mastered, it can be much appreciated and its humorous effects can be  applied to make  verbal  communication much more efficiently and smoothly so that it makes human relation be bettered off. To get fully interpretation  the  essence  of  generation  mechanism  of  verbal  humor  from  various aspects  is  difficult.  However,  the  basic  interpretation  of  the  humorous  effects‘ mechanism  is  not  impossible.  Many  scholars  have  done  numerous  researches  on  it. American  talk  show,  whose  main  feature  is  humor,  is  also  a  hot  topic  for  further studies. Researchers have already conducted such research from various aspects and gain fruitful achievements. 

1.1 Previous Study of Related Theories of Humor 
There  is  a  long  history  for  the  western  scholars  to  be  engaged  in  the  study  of humor for humor has the characteristics of universality. Therefore, the scholars have studied  humor  from  different  aspects.  Since  the late 16th  century,  some  researchers have  been  doing  such  study  it  from  the  perspective  of  aesthetics(Chen  Xiaoying, 1989).  In  the  aesthetic  category,  humor  has  the  similar  meaning  with  fun,  irony, banter, which is a term in the comedy theories. There  are  three  classic  theories  of  humor  in  western  linguistics:  theory  of release, superiority and uncoordinated theory applied in the study of humor, which is conducted  from  the  perspective  of  psychoanalysis,  philosophy  and  psychology respectively. 
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1.2 Previous Comment and Research on The Tonight Show 
The Tonight Show, which is a widely-known late-night talk and multi-theatrical program  in  the  USA,  is  founded  in  1954  by  American  National  Broadcasting Company  (NBC).  In  May  1992,  the  famous  comedian  Jay  Leno  was  invited  as  the fourth host of this program. He presided humorously but not tartly, very considerate towards  the  guests  and  avoids  embarrassing  them,  which  helped  him  win  countless fans and made the show maintain a high rating, even the top popular talk show for a long  time.  For  some  reasons,  on  February  17,  2014  Jimmy  Fallon  took  over  the position from Jay Leno and since then it was renamed as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy  Fallon.  Jimmy  is  a  funny  monologue  actor,  a  TV  presenter,  an  actor  and  a musician. He is famous for  Saturday Night  Live  and several other dramas.  In 2011, Jimmy  Fallon  served  as  the  host  of  the  62nd  Emmys.  In  its  first  regular  Monday night  The  Tonight  Show  Starring  Jimmy  Fallon  attracted  6.26  million  audience  and 2.1 ratings among people aged from 18 to 49. This is the best score at the same time period since the Conan O. Brien started in 2009. By the end of the 2015, 21 seasons and more than 2000 sets of The Tonight Show have been broadcasted.  
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Chapter Three Classification of Humor in The Tonight.......... 21 
3.1 Imitation ..... 23 
3.2 Verbal Humor Produced through the Related Strategies ........... 25
Chapter Four Analysis of Verbal Humor in the Perspective of Relevance........... 31 
4.1 Formation Mechanism and Interpretation of Humorous Effect ......... 31 
4.1.1The Inconformity Stage ........ 31 
4.1.2 The Triggers for the Second Interpretation ......... 32 
4.1.3 The Resolution Stage ........... 33 
4.2 Relevance Theory Applied in Interpreting the Verbal Humor.... 34 
4.2.1 Phonological Strategies ....... 34 
4.2.2 Semantic Strategies ...... 36 
4.2.3 Rhetorical Strategies .... 39 
4.2.4 Pragmatics Strategies ........... 44 

Chapter Four Analysis of Verbal Humor in the Perspective of Relevance Theory in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 

4.1  Formation  Mechanism  and  Interpretation  of  Humorous Effect 
Humor  is  a  combination  of  thought,  temperament,  intellect  and  inspiration.  Usually humorous utterances have the function of conveying intentions.  To correctly understand and appreciate the humor and to get the intention of the speaker,  the  hearer  or  the  reader  should  have  a  good  sensitivity  of  language,  a relative rich knowledge about the background as well as a good cognitive ability and the inferential ability. The relevance theory holds that there is no direct and indirect relevant,  but  rather  the  different  degree  of  how  much  they  two  are  associated  with each  other.  So  the  relevance  theory  can  interpret  the  speech  act  of  humorous utterances. The process can be divided into two steps, namely the inconformity stage and the resolution stage, among which there is a trigger for the second interpretation (Zhang Xin, 2003), which will be discussed later. 
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Conclusion 

The  relevance  theory  holds  that  there  is  no  direct  and  indirect  relevant,  but rather the different degree of how much they two are associated with each other. So the relevance theory can interpret the speech act of humorous utterances and explain how the verbal humorous effects are produced, although it is not specially designed to interpret the verbal humor. Relevance theory also has a strong explanatory power to all types of discourses, including verbal humor. Humor  not  only  has  aesthetic  value  and  the  function  of  entertainment  but  also can  ease  the  environment,  decrease  the  stress  and  bring  harmony  and  friendship  to people. ―Humor is the least and most paramount thing in the world. Knowing how to create it  and how it works is one of the ideas to change one‘s life.‖ (Shibles, 2002) So  the  research  of  this  topic  is  necessary.  To  correctly  understand  and  appreciate humor, recipients / readers should have a good sensitivity about language, a relative rich  knowledge  about  the  background  as  well  as  a  good  cognitive  ability  and  the inferential ability. The cognitive ability and the ability of inferring are closely related to relevance theory. The formation mechanism and interpretation of humor could be interpreted by relevance theory as following steps. 
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The reference (omitted)