A Comparative Analysis Of English And Chinese Verbal Humor Memes

In 1976 the Zoologist of Oxford University Richard Dawkins firstly brought out the term "meme" according to "gene". In the eyes of Dawkins, meme is a unit of cultural information that can be copied and spread continuously, such as languages, customs, notions, social behaviors, etc. Since the memetics appeared, it has attracted a lot attention of scholars. In the linguistic domain, many scholars try to analyze some linguistic phenomenon by memetics. In the mainland of China, the first scholar who mentioned meme is Professor Gui Shichun; later the famous linguist Professor He Ziran issued many academic papers on memetics, such as Memes in Language, Memes and Communication, Memetics and Social Usage of Language, A Summary on Language Memes, etc.Based on the theory about ways of replication and transmission for language memes and with situational comedies Friends and My Own Swordsman as examples, this thesis makes a discussion on the following three questions:how does meme works in the transmission of English and Chinese verbal memes, what are the similarities between English and Chinese verbal humor memes, and what are the differences between English and Chinese verbal humor memes? The present author thinks that the ways of replication and transmission for English and Chinese verbal humor memes consist of three types:verbal humor meme by borrowing an existing meme, verbal humor meme by adapting an existing meme, and verbal humor meme by creating a new meme. The similarities between English and Chinese verbal humor memes are of same functions and same techniques. The same functions mainly include recreational function, social function, psychological function and cultural function; the same techniques mainly consist of imitation, misinterpreting, homophone, anticlimax, etc. English and Chinese verbal humor memes are different in topic, mocking target and cultural background. Furthermore, the differences in topic and mocking target are originally caused by the difference in cultural background. From examples in Friends and My Own Swordsman, the main difference in topic is that Chinese verbal humor memes are usually about livelihood, money and salary while English verbal humor memes are mainly about sex and politics. The main difference in mocking target is that mocking targets in Chinese verbal humor memes are usually those who have some disadvantages like henpecked husbands, widows or cowards while mocking targets in English verbal humor memes are usually about ethnic minorities like Jews. The difference in cultural background is mainly indicated in the following three aspects:religion and belief, social structure and social values. Chinese is greatly influenced by Confucianism while the impact of Christianity is easily found in English; hierarchical relationship is embodied in China because of its long history of feudalism while equality is given more importance in the West; Chinese people are mainly guided by the faith of collectivism while Westerners, esp. Americans, pursue individualism in daily life.