A Relevance-Theoretical Analysis Of Verbal Humor In Conan

Humor is a particular way for human communication. Various patterns of human can be found in every corner of the society. So it is a necessary factor in our daily communication. Scholars from different fields, like philosophy, psychology, physiology, sociology, and linguistics have explained humor from different aspects and angles. Some theories about humor have been proposed. Language is the unique communication tool for human. The expression and creation of humor is mostly accomplished via language. Among various humor expressing ways, verbal humor is the most widespread and common. In1980s, Relevance Theory was proposed by Speber and Wilson. This theory is not created specifically for explaining humor, but it offers a brand-new perspective and framework for the research of humor. So, the thesis studies verbal humor based on Relevance Theory.Conan is one of the most popular TV talk show in America. Its audience are around of the world. The main content of this talk show is celebrity interview. The gusts from Conan mostly are superstars from different fields and big figures in political circles. Compared with the words that have been designed in advance, utterance in talk show is more impromptu, more natural and fresher. Besides, the utterance from talk show can reflect the language of contemporary American life. What’s more, host’s comment to the news enriches the content of talk show and also set barriers before English learners and audience in China. If you want to learn a language, you have to appreciate and understand the humor of this language, especially those from the daily life. So, based on the Relevance Theory, the paper analyse the verbal humor in Conan to explain the mechanism of verbal humor and the strategies used.More and more people are trying to employ relevance theory to the study of verbal humor. There is a long way for all of these researchers to go. At present, there are still some problems that need more systematic study. In my opinion, two problems are very important but have not been analyzed very well. One is from the perspective of relevance theory what is the hearer’s comprehension process of verbal humor? The other is on the base of humor appreciation analysis, what strategies make humorous effect generate? Based on the research to Relevance Theory, the thesis build an analysis mode of verbal humor cognitive process:maximal relevance (assumed optimal relevance)-irrelevance-optimal relevance. By applying this analysis mode, the thesis explains the verbal humor utterances from Conan and summarizes the comprehension process and pragmatic strategies of verbal humor based on Relevance Theory. In this thesis, Chapter One is an introduction to the whole thesis. It states research background, purpose, significance, methodology and outline of the thesis.Chapter Two presents a brief review of literature. It states the nature of humor first; and then reviews the traditional theories and modern linguistic theories of humor and specially reviews the humor research based on RT; at last introduces an overview of research on verbal humor in talk show at home and abroad.Chapter Three introduces the theoretical framework of the study involving the detailed study on RT. It introduces several key concepts of RT, such as cognitive context, mutually manifest assumptions, ostensive-inferential model, relevance and relevance principle.Chapter Four consists of two parts. The first part explores the comprehension of verbal humor in Conan from the perspective of RT. It focuses on three aspects:gap between maximal relevance and optimal relevance, change of cognitive context and additional cognitive efforts. It makes use of the analysis mode of RT about the cognitive process of verbal humor created by the author with the structure of "theoretical interpretation followed by example analysis". The second part of chapter four analyzes the pragmatic strategies of verbal humor in talk show Conan from the perspective of RT. It presents four strategies:misguidance by logical form, production of ambiguity, use of semantic vacancy and use of cognitive context.Chapter Five is conclusion of the thesis. It makes summary of the major findings and limitations of the thesis and indicates the suggestion for further research.