Abstract: As a common linguistic phenomenon, humor not only reflects the wisdom and attitudes of the speakers, but also reflects their social and cultural backgrounds. More and more studies have begun to dissect verbal humor from the perspective of pragmatics. In light of linguistic theories, audience can have a deeper understanding of humor in the films and TV series. This paper investigates situation comedy Big Bang Theory from the perspective of pragmatics. Under the guidance of the cooperative principle and the politeness principle, this paper analyzes violations of several maxims of the above two principles, explores the social and cultural backgrounds of humor, and enhances the Chinese audience’s ability of comprehending and appreciating the American sitcoms.  

Key words: pragmatics; verbal humor; cooperative principle; politeness principle; Big Bang Theory

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1.-Introduction-1

1.1-Definition of Humor-1

1.2-Previous Studies-2

1.3-Data Collection-3

1.4-Purpose of the Study-4

2.-Theoretical Framework-4

2.1-The Cooperative Principle-5

2.2-The Politeness Principle-6

2.3-The Relation between the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle-7

3.-Pragmatic Study on Humor in The Big Bang Theory-8

3.1-Humor Created by Violating the Cooperative Principle-8

3.1.1-Violation of the Quantity Maxim-9

3.1.2-Violation of the Quality Maxim-10

3.1.3-Violation of the Relevance Maxim-11

3.1.4-Violation of the Manner Maxim-12

3.2-Humor Created by Violating the Politeness Principle-13

3.2.1-Violation of the Tact Maxim-13

3.2.2-Violation of the Generosity Maxim-15

3.2.3-Violation of the Approbation Maxim-17

3.2.4-Violation of the Modesty Maxim-18

3.2.5-Violation of the Agreement Maxim-19

3.2.6-Violation of the Sympathy Maxim-20

3.3-Humor Produced by Simultaneous Violation of CP&PP-21

3.4-Summary-22

4.-Conclusion-23

References-25