An Analysis of Conversational Implicatures and Verbal Humors in Modern Family from the Perspective of Cooperative Principle_英语论文

摘要

格赖斯曾说，在谈话过程中，说话者与听话者就共同目的或彼此接纳的一致方向做出努力，这些目的或方向形成了某些原则，格赖斯将其称为合作原则。此后，许多学者在这一领域进行了理论研究或者应用研究。但目前国内外学者对于合作原则的应用研究甚少，尤其是在情景喜剧幽默方面的应用研究，还存在许多空白。本文基于合作原则理论，对会话含义和言语幽默进行分析。本文选取了情景喜剧《摩登家庭》中的一些对话，指出说话人违反的合作原则，剖析人物对话背后的会话含义，最后分析幽默效果。本文旨在激发读者对于合作原则的应用兴趣，运用合作原则分析喜剧中的幽默效果，更好地理解人物对话的深层意义，得到启发后将沟通技巧应用在日常生活的交流中。同时，为研究这一课题的广大学者提供一些经验。

关键词：合作原则  语言幽默  格赖斯  《摩登家庭》 

Abstract

According to Grice, participants in a conversation make their cooperative efforts toward a common purpose or a mutually accepted direction. These purposes or directions formulate some certain principles, which are labelled “cooperative principle” by Grice. Since then, many scholars have conducted theoretical or applied studies on these principles. But so far, they have not, historically, invested much effort in studies of the application of cooperative principle, especially the studies of humorous effect of sitcoms. Therefore, this thesis will analyze the conversational implicatures and verbal humor on the basis of cooperative principle. Selecting some dialogues from Modern Family, the study figures out which maxim the speaker violates and what the implicatures are. The purpose of this thesis is to arouse the reader’s interest in applying cooperative principle to understanding the humorous effect in comedies and grasp a better understanding of character’s conversation. Readers can also learn some daily communication skills under the inspiration of the analysis. On the other hand, the thesis can provide some experience for those who do researches in cooperative principle.

Key words: Cooperative Principle  verbal humor  Grice  Modern Family

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Purpose of This Thesis 1

1.2  Significance of This Thesis 1

1.3  Structure of This Thesis 2

1.4  Research Method of This Thesis 2

Chapter Two  Literature Review 4

2.1  Previous Studies on Cooperative Principle Abroad 4

2.2  Previous Studies on Cooperative Principle at Home 5

2.3  Previous Studies on Modern Family 6

2.4  Summary 7

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 8

3.1  Introduction 8

3.2  Cooperative Principle 8

3.2.1 Maxim of Quantity 8

3.2.2 Maxim of Quality 9

3.2.3 Maxim of Relation 9

3.2.4 Maxim of Manner 10

3.3  Conversational Implicature 10

Chapter Four  An Analysis of Implicatures and Verbal Humor in  Modern Family 12

4.1  Introduction 12

4.2  Violation of Quantity Maxim 13

4.2.1 Insufficient  information 13

4.2.2 More information 14

4.3  Violation of Quality Maxim 15

4.3.1 Intentional Deception 15

4.3.2 Rootless Information 17

4.4  Violation of Relation Maxim 18

4.5  Violation of Manner Maxim 19

4.5.1 Obscurity 19

4.5.2 Ambiguity 20

4.5.3 Redundancy 21

4.5.4 Disorder 22

Chapter Five  Conclusion 24

5.1  Major Findings 24

5.2  Limitations and Suggestions for Future Study 24

Bibliography

Acknowledgements