Abstract:American humor refers to the conventions and common threads which tie together humor in the United States. And humor usually concerns aspects of American culture. For its entertainment, humor is widely used in the creation and production of American situation comedies. The TV series The Big Bang Theory is one of the famous sitsoms with the highest-rated scripted series on TV in the states. It is famous for humorous characters and highly interesting plots. This paper discusses influencing factors,linguistic expressions, functions and influences of American humor by taking The Big Bang Theory as an example. The author of this thesis hopes to help televiewers get further understanding about American humor based on American culture.

Key words：American humor；sitcom；American culture；The Big Bang Theory

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

1.1 A Gerenal Introduction of American Humor-1

1.2 A Gerenal Introduction of TV Series The Big Bang Theory-1

1.3 Objectives and Significance of the Research-2

2-Factors Influence American Humor in The Big Bang Theory-2

2.1 Diversity-2

2.2 Individualism-3

2.3 High-technology-3

3 Expression of American humor in The Big Bang Theory-4

3.1 Verbal Humor-4

3.1.1 Sarcasm-4

3.1.2 Pun-5

3.1.3 Allusion-6

3.1.4 Dry Humor-6

3.1.5 Hyperbole-7

3.2 Non-verbal Humor-8

3.2.1 Facial Expression-8

3.2.2 Body Language-9

3.2.3 Some Other Elements-10

4 Functions of American humor in The Big Bang Theory-10

4.1 To Build a Relaxing Atmosphere-10

4.2 To Deal with Embarrassing Situations-11

4.3 To Satirize Someboby or Something-11

4.4 To Conceal One’s Shortcomings and Save Face.-12

5 Influence of American humor in The Big Bang Theory-12

5.1 Influence on American Teleplays-12

5.2 Influence on Chinese Teleplays-13

6 Conclusion-13

Bibliograghy-14

Acknowledgements-15