Analysis Of Verbal Humors In My Own Swordsman From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Humor is not only a way of social communication but also an art with unique appealand charm, thus is pervasive in literature, film and daily life. Humor has long receivedattention from fields of philosophy, aesthetics, sociology, psychology, etc. Recent yearshave seen humor study from linguistic aspect, as language is a natural carrier of humor.However, it seems that the study of language itself cannot adequately explain how humoris produced and how it is appreciated by others. Thus it is necessary to make anexploration of the cognitive process of verbal humor from the pragmatic aspect.Sperber and Wilson's relevance theory is a general theory for human communicationand cognition. Thus the thesis attempts to analyze the cognitive process of humorcomprehension and production from the perspective of relevance theory, with linguisticdata from the popular sitcom My Own Swordsman. As a case study, the thesis adopts acombination of qualitative and quantitative approach, applying methods of classification,deduction and induction, in order to explore the cognitive mechanism of humorcomprehension and propose strategies and techniques for humor production.After deep analysis, humor comprehension can be divided into the following fiveprocedures:(1) Least effort for maximal relevance;(2) Contradiction between formerassumption and new information;(3) Adjustment to dynamic context;(4) Extra effort foroptimal relevance;(5) Generation of humorous effects. As to humor prodution, it will beanalyzed from ostensive and inferential strategies by linguistic and rhetoric techniques.Main ideas of relevance theory are adopted as the theoretical foundation for humor study,and relevance is believed to penetrate the whole process of humor production andcomprehension.