An Analysis Of Humor Via Dialogic Resonance In Sitcoms Based On Relevance Theory

Humor is an eternal topic in human history and the study of humor has a long history which can be traced back to Plato's and Aristotle's time.This paper aims at analyzing how humor is activated by dialogic resonance based on Relevance Theory.This study mainly answers two questions:Firstly,the cognitive mechanism of humor created by dialogic resonance in sitcoms;Secondly,the relationship between Dialogic Syntax and Relevance Theory during the production of humor activated by dialogic resonance in sitcoms.According to Dialogic Syntax,resonance can happen at every level of language,so this paper abstracts 69 constructions of Dialogic Syntax which from the American sitcom Good Luck Charlie(Seasons 1 to 4),can be classified into four categories:dialogic resonance at the level of constructions,words,resonance at multiple levels of language and at other levels of language including the level of prosodic structures,phonemes,morphemes and gestures.This study is based on the generality between Relevance Theory and Dialogic Syntax.The former says that human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance.Identically,Dialogic Syntax states that later speakers tend to reuse part or all of their former speakers' utterances in communication,which ensures the maximization of relevance between the utterances and the current context.This is the common thing between the two theories.After the analysis of the data,the cognitive mechanism of humor can be illustrated as this:In specific context,the hearer makes efforts to infer the speaker's communicative intention after he or she receives the signals from the speaker.Then the hearer makes inferences from a set of assumptions related with the speaker's utterances according to the maximal relevance principle.Finally,the hearer can acquire an optimal relevant assumption,also known as the speaker's communicative intention.Then in order to make the speaker construe his or her communicative intention with the least efforts,the hearer chooses to reproduce the speaker's partial or total utterance to answer the speaker.However,as an audience of the scene,he or she also participates in the activity of inferring both the speaker and hearer's intentions.The audience finally recognizes the incongruity between the two communicators'communicative intentions and this often makes people laugh.This thesis studies humor in sitcoms activated by dialogic resonance based on Relevance Theory.On one hand,it provides a new perspective for humor study and enriches Dialogic Syntax and Relevance Theory on the other hand.