A Pragmatic Analysis of Verbal Humor —Based on Face Theory and Politeness Principle.doc

A Pragmatic Analysis of Verbal Humor 桞ased on Face Theory and Politeness Principle A Thesis Submitted to College of Foreign Languages Xingtan College Qufu Normal University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts Under the Supervision of Zhu He ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper, which is my graduation thesis, couldn’t have been written without the help of a number of people. I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness and gratitude to them all. My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, Ms. Zhu He, for her constant encouragement and valuable guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Truly, without her painstaking efforts in reading and revising as well as polishing my drafts and her patient instruction, this thesis could never have reached its present form. Secondly, I am also indebted to all my teachers, from whose devoted teaching and excellent lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for this thesis. Thirdly, I owe particular thanks to my friends and fellow classmates who have offered generous help and useful suggestions in the process of writing this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to my beloved parents for their loving considerations and continuous support and encouragement. Without the help of those people, this paper could never have been duly completed. 摘 要 幽默是人类文明与社会发展的标志，在人际交往中的作用是独一无二的。它是一种人生智慧，也是一种润滑剂。国内外学者大多关注言语幽默的语义特征，语用方面的研究相对缺乏。而礼貌是维系人与人交往的工具和手段，是一种社会规约，相关研究成果颇为丰盛，Brown 和Levinson 的面子理论及Leech的礼貌原则在语用学领域较为突出。 本文从《老友记》中随机选取语境来分析幽默产生的原因，重点探讨通过违反礼貌原则产生的幽默效果。这将有利于英语学习者更好地理解幽默，有利于激发其学习热情，有利于提高其跨文化交际能力。 关键词：言语幽默；礼貌原则；面子理论；《老友记》 ABSTRACT Humor is a symbol of human civilization and social development which holds a unique position in interpersonal communication. It’s a kind of wisdom which functions as lubricating oil. Scholars both at home and abroad care more about semantic features of verbal humor, and pragmatic st