The Analysis Of Puns From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

English pun is an important linguistic and cultural phenomenon, which hasinfluenced people from all walks of life. It has always attracted many scholars’attention both at home and abroad. However, former studies have mainly been madefrom the perspective of traditional linguistics, including their pragmatic functions,translation methods, etc. Not many studies have been made from the perspective ofcognitive linguistics, which is regarded as a new approach to study English puns.Many scholars have put forward some views and methods on English puns, but veryfew have tried to explain the meaning construction process of English puns.Conceptual integration theory is put forward by Fauconnier and Turner in theirwork Conceptual Integration Network (Fauconnier and Turner,1998). It possessescomplete theoretical framework and sophisticated operating mechanism. There arefour mental spaces in the basic operation: two input spaces, one generic space and oneblended space. In conceptual integration, structures from input spaces are selectivelyprojected into the blended space. Through composition, completion and elaboration, anew structure called emergent structure appeared. Many scholars both at home andabroad have studied the great explanatory power conceptual integration theory inmany linguistic phenomena. but few of them apply this theory systematically into theinterpretation of English puns.This thesis is a tentative study that focuses on analyzing the meaningconstruction process of English puns through conceptual integration theory. The mostimportant part of conceptual integration theory lies in its networks: simplex network,mirror network, single-scope network and double-scope network. To make the studymore clear, the thesis classifies puns on the basis of the four sub-networks of CIT and presents examples respectively. Through the analysis, it is pointed out that all thenetworks can work according to their operation principles to analyze different Englishpuns and demonstrate their meaning construction process of. It proves the strongexplanatory power of conceptual integration theory and also makes contributions tothe relevant study of English puns. Meanwhile, the limitations of this thesis have beenpointed out and some suggestions are made for further study.