An Analysis Of Verbal Humor In Feng Xiaogang’s Comedy From Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Humor, as a common and interesting phenomenon in communication, has aroused attention both at home and abroad. With the introduction of Relevance Theory, humor studies from the perspective of Relevance Theory have made important achievements. This paper aims to interpret verbal humor in the comedy films directed by Feng Xiaogang, whose comedies have obtained a high box office in spite of the gloomy domestic film market. His success is inseparable from the unique humorous utterances in the films. Few researchers have investigated Feng Xiaogang’s humor from the perspective of Relevance Theory, thus the present study is of some significance.This study focuses on the following two questions. Firstly, what techniques can be found in Feng Xiaogang’s comedies in order to achiever humorous effects? Secondly, how can the audience perceive Feng’s humor? In order to answer the questions, a qualitative method is adopted. The research target is Feng Xaogang’s five comedies, which are The Dream Factory, Be There or Be Square, Sorry Baby, Big Shot’s Funeral, A World Without Thieves.After analyzing the data, six humor techniques are found in Feng’s comedies, including irony, exaggeration, misunderstanding, simile or metaphor, parody, and surprise. Three elements are involved in perceiving the humorous utterances: the audience finds the disparity with ostensive information; an interaction with the context of the audience is necessary; additional effort is rewarded with more humorous effect.