Discourse Characteristics Of The Big Bang Theory7

Studies on discourse analysis include studies on language use, and language useinvolves generation of discourse and understanding of discourse. Previous discourseanalysis focuses on studying the understanding of discourse, while studies on thegeneration of discourse are not common. Linguistic studies under the philosophy ofmind take as a basic assumption language reflecting human mind, and providetheoretical bases for studies on the generation of discourse. Among all the fruitfultheories in the philosophy of mind is intentionality.The relationship between language and intentionality lies in: language use is aconscious activity; intentionality, as a core content of conscious activity, is the startingpoint and destination of language activity. Intentionality belongs to human; language asa physical tool actually has no intentionality, but human can endow language withintentionality, which is called parasitic intentionality. On that basis, the Chineselinguist Xu Shenghuan has proposed a language-analyzing tool called the IntentionalityFrame. The frame includes two aspects: intentional content and intentional attitude, thelatter containing three sub-categories: mental state, mental evaluation and mentalorientation.Under the situation where study on the understanding of discourse has beencentered on, the first innovation of the present study is the focus on the generation ofdiscourse. And even among all the studies of the generation of discourse, thedistinguishing given discourses selected from an American sitcom as research objectcan be regarded as the second innovation. The present study adopts the IntentionalityFrame proposed by Xu Shenghuan to analyze the utterances in Episode1, spoken bythe seven key roles of The Big Bang Theory7so as to test the viability of the theory,and in the meanwhile, to explore the generation of utterances and the mental process ofthe speakers. According to the analysis, the following conclusions have been reached.First, that discourses in sitcoms can be analyzed under the intentionality frame so farhas proved to be true. That is because the utterances analyzed are chosen at random inEpisode1, and the process of analyzing has gone smoothly. Moreover, the analysis has been successfully conducted, proving its viability of the intentionality theory of Xu.Second, the process of analyzing the utterances is a manifestation of the mentalprocesses of the speakers, indicating the rationality of the assumption that languagereflected human mind, only the perspective of intentionality concerned, though still nota full picture of mental process. The mental process can be referred to in the diagramsunder each analysis. Third, speakers’ personal features can be manifested. Speakers’utterances are representation of interpreting intentional content according to theselection of intentional attitude, the interpretations influenced by their backgrounds,including educational, religious, customary, and cultural background, values,experiences, etc. Forth, it is the richness of intentional contents and intentionalattitudes chosen by the speakers that makes the utterances of the roles fascinating andthat contributes to popularity of the sitcom.As for the research significance, the present study, firstly, can test the viability ofthe theory, and make a preliminary exploration to speakers’ mental process in theprocess of speaking, which can help audience have a better understanding of the sitcom.Secondly, it can objectively provide a reference or model for subsequent intentionalinterpretation to TV series and films.