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An Interpretation Of Verbal Humor In Chinese Crosstalk From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

Posted on:2010-04-15Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:X HuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360275495132Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Crosstalk is a kind of Chinese traditional art forms, which reflects people's daily life with its own unique artistic techniques. Humor is the essence of crosstalk, and crosstalk may not exist without humor. The appraisal of a crosstalk work largely depends on the humor embedded in it.As one of the most influential theories in cognitive linguistic field, Conceptual Blending Theory has attracted special attention from researchers both at home and abroad due to its strong explanatory power. This thesis attempts to approach verbal humor in Chinese crosstalk from the perspective of Conceptual Blending Theory, so as to examine the explanatory power of Conceptual Blending Theory on humor as well as to enrich the current linguistic study of Chinese crosstalk from a relatively new angle.This thesis is made up of five chapters. Chapter one briefly introduces the rationale, objectives, research methodology, data collection and the overall structure of the thesis. Chapter two presents a general review of the various definitions and classifications of humor, three traditional humor theories and the major linguistic researches on humor. Chapter three provides an overview of Conceptual Blending Theory. The origin and development of this theory, its main ideas and key notions are made clear in this chapter. Chapter four is the core of this thesis. In this chapter, a brief introduction to crosstalk is first given, including its history, development, and some of its artistic features. Then several humorous discourses from crosstalk items are analyzed within the framework of Conceptual Blending Theory. The analyses are divided according to the four basic types of integration networks, based on which, the distinct features of the four types of networks are summarized finally. Chapter five is the conclusion of this thesis. It summarizes the major findings and points out the limitations of the study. Besides, some suggestions for further research are put forward in the end.
Keywords/Search Tags:conceptual blending, crosstalk, verbal humor, mental space
PDF Full Text Request
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