A Relevance-theoretic Study Of English Conundrums

As an important form of English riddle, English conundrums are described as a kind of language game loved by people in the daily life. English conundrums have been paid more and more attention by scholars of various study fields in recent years and the study multitude of English conundrum has been made in folklore, rhetoric, linguistics, cognitive-psychology, etc. As a replenishment and extension for English conundrum studies, associating with Relevance Theory, this thesis aims to describe the unconventional ostensive methods used by the riddler who proposes conundrums in the questions and the cognitive experiences and referential processes given by the riddlee who receives conundrums in the answers.The qualitative research method is adopted in this thesis. Based on the classification for the collected materials, English conundrums are categorized into four types according to their formation ways in the framework of Relevance Theory. They are: Double Contexts-based Conundrums, Information-based Conundrums, Trap-based Conundrums and Selection-based Conundrums. Integrating the ostensive-inferential communication, the optimal principle, contextual effect, processing effort and cognitive context of the Relevance Theory, the thesis discusses and examines the explanations of the unconventional ostensive methods in the questions and the cognitive experiences and referential processes in the answers in detail accordingly. The thesis is showing: Riddler usually establishes certain relevance to confuse riddlee with various ways so that sometimes riddlee can not infer the answer of a conundrum whose surface seems to be highly associated. Usually riddlee need pay more efforts to infer and re-infer for its optimal relevance. The setting and solving process of a conundrum is the process of the integrated use of various elements of Relevant Theory.Based on the Relevance Theory, the thesis contributes an in-depth analysis to English conundrums regarded as humorous language game, which makes the Relevance Theory more vital and persuasive and makes the roles of entertainment and teaching ofEnglish conundrums expanded as much as possible.