The Study Of English Puns Based On Conceptual Blending Theory

Puns are a method of rhetoric frequently used in the literary works, daily communication,business advertisements, jokes, riddles, etc. How does a pun achieve the effect of suddenmeaning-shifting and convey different meanings out of expectance? What is the mostimportant is to get an accurate comprehension of the meaning construction process of puns fora better understanding of the whole passage or the whole conversation.Due to the great importance of puns in the literature, there are a great number ofresearchers who have studied puns for a long time. However, some of them focused on theirclassifications and stylistic effects, and others are interested in their translation. Few studiesfocus on meaning construction of puns, thus this thesis studies puns from the perspective ofConceptual Blending Theory to explain the dynamic meaning construction of puns.Conceptual Blending Theory is proposed by Fauconnier, Turner and other cognitivescientists. With the application of the theory, this thesis makes a cognitive study of the mentalmechanism in the process of comprehending English puns, that is, how the brain’s cognitiveoperations work for a better understanding of the real intention of the producer of puns.This thesis first introduces Conceptual Blending Theory from theoretical bases, thedevelopment of CBT, the elements in the theory and relevant studies on CBT. Then thepresent studies and the trend of the further research will be introduced from the introductionof puns, studies from linguistic scope and further development. In the third part of the thesis,four different conceptual blending networks of puns will be introduced, that is single-framingnetworks, mirror networks, single-scope networks and double-scope networks. The third partof the thesis will analyze puns based on CBT. For the convenience of the study, puns aredivided into three types: transparent puns, semi-transparent puns and opaque puns accordingto the transparency of the double meanings of puns and the number of the hinges. All of thethree types of puns are analyzed separately in this thesis. It is hoped that this study would enlighten the following researchers to make a furtherstudy on puns and at the same time, to provide some inspiration for the further step on theapplication and improvement of the Conceptual Blending Theory.