An Implicit-Space-Blending-Theory Analysis Of Humor With English-Chinese Cultural Vacancies In American Sitcoms

In recent years, the study on humor has aroused the attention of more and more researchers and scholars. Humor is everywhere in our daily life and it is a universal communicative way. Many researchers and scholars have discussed it in terms of semantics, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. This thesis will study humor from the perspective of culture, more precisely, humor with English-Chinese cultural vacancy. After enumerating some theoretical frames of humor, this thesis adopts Implicit-space-blending-theory approach proposed by Jiang Yong, which makes a good combination of Conceptual Blending Theory and Relevance Theory. The author chooses two American sitcoms as the data, and then points out that words, historical backgrounds, social conventions, religions and beliefs, cultural knowledge and non-verbal factors can affect the understanding of the humor with English-Chinese cultural vacancies. Based on Implicit-Space-Blending-Theory, this thesis will analyze the cognitive process of humor with English-Chinese cultural vacancy and discuss the factors blocking the understanding of the humor with cultural vacancies, and further to give some suggestions for better understanding. The author thinks that it will be a positive promotion for the understanding of English-Chinese humor and cross-cultural communication, and also some useful contributions to English teaching in non-native English countries.The thesis contains five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction of the aim, significance and structure of the thesis. The second chapter reviews the definitions of humor and cultural vacancy and other related concepts in the thesis and gives a generalization of the former studies on humor. Implicit-Space-Blending-Theory, as the theoretic frame in the thesis, is introduced thoroughly. The third chapter presents the study questions, study methods and the data. This thesis chooses 12 examples in the two American sitcoms "Friends" and "The Big Bang Theory" as the data to analyze and discuss. The fourth chapter is the core part. In light of Implicit-Space-Blending-Theory, the mechanism of the humor with English-Chinese cultural vacancies is discussed, and the factors blocking the understanding of the humor with English-Chinese cultural vacancies are pointed out and also the suggestions to solve the problems are mentioned. The last chapter is to conclude and sum up the major findings of the thesis, and also presents the limitations and the suggestions for future studies on humor.