An Analysis of Mock Politeness in Fresh off the Boat from the Perspective of Echoic-interpretation Theory of Irony_英语论文

摘要

自从Brown & Levinson (1987), Leech (1983) 的礼貌理论出现以来，礼貌研究成为了语言学界和社会语言学界的关注重点之一。然而这些理论已不足以解释和分析不礼貌的语言现象，尤其是关于虚假礼貌的语言现象，因而需要用新视角去解释和分析这一现象。

关联理论，作为一门阐释交际的语用学理论具有强大的影响力。这门语用学理论从认知的角度对语用现象进行研究，认为人类的任何言语交际行为都以关联性作为基础，阐释了隐喻、反语等语言现象。在这一理论框架下，反语回应论指出反语是回声性解释的一种情况，凡是反语均有回应。虚假礼貌在通常情况下与反语无异，所以可将反语回应论用于虚假礼貌研究之中。

本文试图通过反语回应论来解读美剧中《初来乍到》人物对话，探讨虚假礼貌的表现形式。本剧将时间设定在上世纪九十年代，描述了一个台湾家庭来到美国奥兰多定居、创业、生活的故事。作为情景喜剧，剧中所展现的人物对话充满了虚假礼貌的语言现象，可用于对虚假礼貌表现形式的探究，体会人际交往中，对虚假礼貌的剖析的必要性。

关键词：反语回应论  虚假礼貌  《初来乍到》 

Abstract

Since the advent of the politeness theory of Brown & Levinson (1987) and Leech (1983), politeness has become one of the focuses of the linguistic and sociolinguistic circles. However, these theories cannot explain impolite language phenomena, especially the phenomenon of mock politeness. Therefore, a new perspective is needed to explain and analyze mock politeness.

Relevance theory has a powerful influence as a pragmatic theory of interpreting communication. It mainly studies pragmatic phenomena from the perspective of cognition and explains the linguistic phenomena such as metaphor and irony. In this framework, echoic-interpretation theory of irony points out that ironic utterances are cases of echoic interpretation and all the verbal irony should be necessarily echoic. Roughly speaking, mock politeness shares no difference to verbal irony, then it is reasonable to study mock politeness from the perspective of echoic-interpretation theory of irony.

This thesis attempts to interpret the dialogues of the characters in Fresh off the Boat, a typical American situation comedy. This single-lens sitcom describes the story of a Taiwanese family who came to Orlando to settle in the 1990s. As a sitcom, the dialogues displayed in the play is full of mocking utterances, which can be used to explore the expressions of mock politeness and to understand the necessity of dissecting mock politeness in interpersonal communication.

Key words: echoic-interpretation theory of irony  mock politeness Fresh off the Boat 

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Objectives 2

1.3 Research Questions 2

1.4 Research Methodology 3

1.5 Structure of the Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

2.1 Studies on Mock Politeness 5

2.1.1 Studies of Mock Politeness Abroad 5

2.1.2 Studies of Mock Politeness at Home 7

2.2 Studies on Fresh off the Boat 8

2.3 Summary 9

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 11

3.1 Echoic-interpretation Theory of Irony 11

3.1.1 Irony as Interpretive Utterance 11

3.1.2 Irony as Echoic Utterance 13

3.1.3 Irony as Dissociative Echoic Use 13

3.2 Summary 14

Chapter Four  Analysis of Mock Politeness in Fresh off the Boat 16

4.1 Introduction to Fresh off the Boat 16

4.2 Analysis of Mock Politeness by Echoic-interpretation Theory of Irony 17

4.2.1 Direct and Immediate Echoes 17

4.2.2 Echoes of (Real or Imaginary) Attributed Thoughts 20

4.2.3 Echoes of Norms or Standard Expectations 22

4.3 Summary 25

Chapter Five  Conclusion 26

5.1 Major Findings 26

5.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research 27

Bibliography

Acknowledgements