A Study Of Deliberate Misinterpretation In The Ellen De Generes Show From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Deliberate misinterpretation is often used by speakers as a kind of linguistic strategy to achieve certain purposes in some situations.At present,studies on deliberate misinterpretation at home and abroad mainly focus on its triggers and realization mechanisms.However,few studies are related to the discussion of its classifications,psychological roots and dynamic contextual roots.And also,the sources of data in most studies are in Chinese.What’s more,as a pragmatic strategy,deliberate misinterpretation is often used by the hosts of TV programs to achieve a special contextual effect,but relevant studies on it are few.Therefore,this thesis takes data from a popular American talk show The Ellen De Generes Show and dialogues involving deliberate misinterpretation are collected for further detailed analysis.The present study is carried out centering on the following three research questions:(1)What types of deliberate misinterpretation are manifested in The Ellen De Generes Show?(2)What are the causes of deliberate misinterpretation in The Ellen De Generes Show?(3)What are the pragmatic functions of deliberate misinterpretation in The Ellen De Generes Show?Ostensive-inferential communication makes it possible for the hearer to understand the speaker’s intention correctly.Based on the correct understanding and under the influence of certain psychology,the hearer chooses to deliberately misinterpret the speaker’s utterance in order to achieve optimal relevance and have certain contextual effect.According to relevance principle,the speaker can identify the occurrence of deliberate misinterpretation and understand the hearer’s intention to use deliberate misinterpretation.As a cognitive pragmatic theory,Relevance Theory can reveal the hearer’s mental activities in interpretation of utterances and explain discourse generation and discourse comprehension on a deeper level.Therefore,the present study conducts a qualitative analysis of deliberate misinterpretation in The Ellen De Generes Show from the perspective of Relevance Theory.Detailed analysis of the collected data in the study indicates that:(1)In light of the basic idea of contextual effect in Relevance Theory,this thesis divides deliberate misinterpretation into three categories: deliberate misinterpretation that expands original cognitive context,deliberate misinterpretation that digresses from original cognitive context and deliberate misinterpretation that narrows original cognitive context.(2)In light of the basic idea of ostensive-inferential communication and cognitive context in Relevance Theory,this thesis holds that there are two main causes of deliberate misinterpretation.Firstly,the ambiguity in the first speaker’s utterance provides potential possibility for the second speaker to deliberately misinterpret the first speaker’s utterance.The ambiguity in the first speaker’s utterance can be subcategorized into phonological ambiguity,lexical ambiguity,syntactic ambiguity and pragmatic ambiguity.Secondly,affected by individual psychology and social psychology,the prominence of some old assumptions in the second speaker’s cognitive context is the psychological contextual root causing deliberate misinterpretation.The prominence of old assumptions in the second speaker’s cognitive context can be subcategorized into prominent old assumptions caused by individual psychology and prominent old assumptions caused by social psychology.(3)The use of deliberate misinterpretation in The Ellen De Generes Show can achieve the following four pragmatic functions: controlling the development of conversation,manifesting the personal charisma of the host,creating harmonious and humorous atmosphere and harmonizing interpersonal relationship.These are also the qualities that an excellent host should have.This thesis classifies deliberate misinterpretation from a new perspective,which can help people form a more comprehensive understanding of deliberate misinterpretation.Based on the comprehensive consideration of verbal,contextual and psychological factors,this thesis analyzes the causes of deliberate misinterpretation,which helps to reveal the deep motivation behind deliberate misinterpretation.At the same time,through the analysis of the role of deliberate misinterpretation as a language strategy in interview programs,this thesis is expected to give some suggestions for domestic media staffs.