A Study Of Verbal Humor In The Talk Show Conan From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Various patterns of humor can be found in our daily life which enjoys great popularity.With the comprehension of verbal humor in English,we can appreciate the profound culture and integrate in the communicator's thoughts.Throughout ancient and modern history,verbal humor has aroused wide attention by experts and scholars from different fields such as philosophy,psychology,aesthetics and linguistics.Relevance theory promotes the process of exploring general rules of conversation in linguistics and enriches the theoretical system of pragmatics.Though it is not created specifically for the study of verbal humor,relevance theory provides a brand new perspective and theoretical framework for verbal humor research.Based on this,the thesis focuses on the humorous parts in the talk show Conan to analyze and interpret English verbal humor.Conan is a high ratings popular TV talk show of celebrity interviews in America.Language materials in the talk shows are fresh,and the words they use are natural and improvisational.With the living spirit of the time,it can reflect present social life better.In order to understand and experience the charm of the talk show,we need to understand verbal humor in it.There are three research questions in the thesis: 1.What is the comprehension process of humor in the talk show Conan from the perspective of relevance theory? 2.What strategies make humorous effects achieved? 3.What are the main barriers for understanding humor in the talk show?According to people's cognition of verbal humor based on relevance theory,the author selects sentence fragments to analyze and interpret humor by using quantitative and qualitative method.From the analysis,we can find that: 1.Relevance theory provides a powerful theory framework in comprehending verbal humor and it can help us understand verbal humor deeply.The analysis explains four cognitive comprehension processes of humor which are first interpretation,realizing the gap between maximal relevance and optimal relevance,the change of cognitive context and realizing humorous effects by identifying the communicative intentions.2.Among the strategies that produce the humor,sarcasm in rhetorical strategy is the most frequently used,and this is inseparable from the form of the talk show.3.In the understanding of humor,the language-based and the cultural background-based barrier are the main barriers.So in order to understand the humor in the talk show better,people need to overcome this.The study may be helpful for future studies since it provides a new perspective in interpreting verbal humor in the talk show.Besides,it can help audiences appreciate humorous utterances in the talk show.At last,it is a good chance for people to know more about western culture during the comprehension process and it can arouse students' interests in English teaching.The first chapter of the thesis introduces research background,purpose,significance,research questions.Chapter two is literature review and in chapter three,theoretical framework of the thesis is introduced.Chapter four presents the methodology of the thesis.Chapter five is the main body of the thesis.Firstly the audience's comprehension process of verbal humor in analyzed.Secondly,strategies that used in the production of humor including phonological,rhetorical,semantic and pragmatic strategies are analyzed in this part.At last,main barriers for understanding humor in talk show are listed.The last chapter is the conclusion of the whole thesis.