美国情景剧《老友记》中语用前提撤销生成的幽默研究-外国语言学与应用语言学专业毕业论文.docxVIP

A STUDY OF PRAGMATIC PRESUPPOSITION’S CANCELLATION-TRIGGERED HUMOR IN AMERICAN SITUATION COMEDY FRIENDS By Chen Erkang Under the supervision of Prof. Zhu Yue A thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the School of Foreign Studies Anhui University April 2009 i i Acknowledgements I want to extend my heart-felt gratitude toward those who have given me guidance and help in the making of this thesis. First and foremost I would like to express my greatest thanks to my supervisor, Professor Zhu Yue, who has not only given me instructive guidance and advice but also encouraged and challenged me through the thesis process. Without his insightful guidance, patient encouragement and strict instructions, the present thesis would never have been possible. I will also express my thanks to other faculty members in the School of Foreign Studies for their diligent work, from which I have benefited a lot. They are Professor Zhou Fangzhu, Dr. Hu Jian, Dr. Zhu Xiaomei, Professor Zhang Ming and Professor Chen Zhengfa. Their great lectures help broaden my academic vision. I am also deeply indebted to all the scholars whose works I have read and consulted. Appreciation should be given to my parents, friends, and especially to my girlfriend Qian Yeqin, who have always supported me heartily and considerately, and given me steady encouragement and help in accomplishing this thesis. ii ii Abstract Humor, as a way of communication, exists almost everywhere in our daily lives. Abundant in content and forms, humor plays an important role in everyday life. Since 1950s, with rapid advancement of pragmatic theories, linguists have been studying humor from the perspective of linguistics. Most scholars have tried to explain the mechanism of humor generation by applying relevance theory as well as the theory of conversational implicature. Though some scholars have already tried to examine humorous cases from the perspective of presupposition an