A Study On The Repetition-Triggered Humor In The Cross Talk Works Of Guo Degang

Humor is peculiar to mankind and in China cross talk is an important carrier of humor. Influenced by Linguistics of Humor which is authored by Hu Fanzhu (1987), the thesis conducts the analysis on the humor style of Guo Degang in the view of humorous effect caused by repetition.Based upon 50 randomly selected cross talk works of Guo Degang, the thesis draws reference from the native theory of humor the "Languages-Psycho Structure", the Frame-Shifting theory of Coulson and the defeasibility feature of presupposition, and conducts the study by describing and analyzing the data.181 pieces of conversations or monologues are found humorous due to the repetition. According to the four factors of pronunciation (P), meaning (M). historical background (H) and structure (S), a total of 8 repetition rules are concluded:Hâ†'H (13; historical background repeats); PMHSâ†'PMHS (10; pronunciation, meaning, historical background and structure repeat); PMHSâ†'PmHS (29; pronunciation, historical background and structure repeat while the meaning alters); PMHSâ†'PmHs (19; pronunciation and historical background repeat while meaning and structure alter) PMHSâ†'pMHS (8; meaning, historical background and structure repeat while pronunciation alters); PMHSâ†'pMHs (16; meaning and historical background repeat while pronunciation and structure alter); PMHSâ†'pMhS (10; meaning and structure repeat while pronunciation and historical background alter); PMHSâ†'pmHS (62; historical background and structure repeat while pronunciation and meaning alter), in which "p", "m", "h" and "s" represent the change of pronunciation, meaning, historical background and structure. At the same time,5 trigger conditions are proposed to guarantee the feasibility of the above repetition rules, such as the repetition times in PMHSâ†'PMHS should be within 4. At last, the perspective of goal presupposition in the Frame-Shifting theory is applied to analyze the internal cognitive mechanism of Guo Degang’s cross talk works. Then the working mechanism of the repetition rules is explained from the point of "the denial of the original presupposition" and "the extension of the original presupposition".The innovation lies in the focus on the individual cross talk works of Guo Degang and the discovering of 8 repetition rules that can evoke laughter as well as the 5 trigger conditions. In spite of this, it has been calculated that 79.17% of the data contain negative attitude for humorous effect by deprecating the self or the others or the society. And in 66.30% of the data, Guo Degang is inclined to denying the original presupposition to create humor.