Abstract: Verbal humor is an indispensable part in our lives, which can color our lives and make our lives more beautiful. In both the writing and speaking forms in our daily communication, verbal humor occupies a great part within. With its special artistic charm of verbal humor, various animated movies occupy an important position in people’s daily entertainment life in recent years. This article will connect verbal humor to pragmatics and hire samples from the American animated movie UP which is considered to be one of the most popular movie in 21st century to analyze verbal humor from the perspective of Grice’s CP. 

Key words: verbal humor; cooperative principle; violation of the maxim; animated movie

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Theoretical Framework-3

2.1 An Overview of the Study of Verbal Humor-3

2.1.1 Definition of Verbal Humor-3

2.1.2 Theories about Verbal Humor-4

2.2 An Introduction of Cooperative Principle-5

2.2.1 The Origin of Cooperative Principle-5

2.2.2 The Elaboration of Cooperative Principle-6

2.2.3 Further Studies Related to Cooperative Principle-7

3. Analysis of Verbal Humor in UP from the Prospective of Cooperative Principle-8

3.1 Violation of Quantity Maxim in UP-8

3.1.1 Violation of Quantity Maxim through Understatement-8

3.1.2 Violation of Quantity Maxim through Overstatement-10

3.2 Violation of Quality Maxim in UP-11

3.2.1 Violation of Quality Maxim through Irony-12

3.2.3 Violation of Quality Maxim through Absurdity-14

3.3 Violation of Relation Maxim in UP-16

3.3.1 Violation of Relation Maxim through Irrelevant Information-16

3.3.2 Violation of Relation Maxim through Topic Change-17

3.4 Violation of Manner Maxim in UP-19

3.4.1 Violation of Manner Maxim through Pun-19

3.4.2 Violation of Manner Maxim through Repetition-20

3.4.3 Violation of Manner Maxim through Aposiopesis-21

4. Conclusion-22

References-24