Verbal Humor In Tonight 80’s Talk Show: A Perspective Of Intertextuality

Verbal humor, enjoying a great popularity in daily life, refers to the humor by way of language use. Although it permeates verbal humor, intertextuality has not yet drawn due attention. Therefore, a relatively comprehensive exploration is seriously needed. The present study, taking as a case study the sections of Wang Zijian’s stand-up comedy in Tonight 80’s Talk Show, analyzes qualitatively the specific methods and functions of intertextuality in the generation of humorous effects in verbal communication. The major findings of the present study include:1) Intertextuality, in the generation of humorous effects in verbal humor, falls into two major categories:specific intertextuality and generic intertextuality.2) The former refers to the verbal humor that contains the texts by others without the direct clarification of specific sources and yet known to social members of the same language community. Specific intertextuality, employed to generate verbal humor, involves reference, quotation and allusion. Humorists, using these three techniques, bring other texts into the present text and make incongruity salient between them through some linguistic means, a crucial means to create humorous effects.3) Generic intertextuality refers to other discourse types brought into the present text and makes changes in their general users, purposes and communicative contents. Generally speaking, incongruity plays a vital role in laying a foundation for comparing and contrasting implicitly or explicitly source texts and present texts for humorous effects. This method cannot only amuse the public but also contribute to cultural interaction, thus deepening our understanding of verbal humor. The present study, in an attempt to reveal the uses and functions of intertextuality in the generation of humorous effects in verbal humor, is conducive to broadening the application of intertextual theories in our appreciation and creation of verbal humor.