摘要

幽默是语言表达的一种方式，表达了人的思想境界、观点和人生态度。幽默是语言和文化的重要组成部分，它具有极强的渗透力，而且已经遍布人类社会的各个方面，并在人际交往和沟通中起着不可或缺的作用。无论是谁，如果能在日常交际中常常表现幽默的一面，那么他的人际关系会非常融洽，人际交往也就会变得很顺利。但是由于文化层次、知识面、认识事物的深度和兴趣爱好等方面的差异，幽默所带来的效果会有所不同。由于文化的差异，不同文化背景中的人交流时对幽默的解读可能会存在障碍。
中西言语幽默中有着很深的文化特性，对于这些文化一无所知就不能完全理解两种文化下的幽默，取得交际的成功。本文正是基于此此现状，以“文化的多样性”为依据，从跨文化角度分析例证，努力探索影响幽默交际的文化因素。

关键词:幽默，幽默理论，差异，相同点，跨文化交际

Abstract

Humor, a way of lingual expression, presents man’s thought, opinion and attitude towards life. It is also an important part of language and culture, which penetrates and permeates all aspects of human society, and dominates social intercourse and interpersonal communication. Anyone, with a strong sense of humor in daily dealings can acquire a more harmonious interpersonal relationship and a smoother social contact. But humor entails different ends due to different education backgrounds, horizons, depth of cognition and interests. Because of cultural differences, the understanding of humor from different countries may cause difficulties without the understanding of culture backgrounds.
Since humor is deeply rooted in the cultural features, one could hardly make full understanding of different humors as to achieve the fulfillment of communication without the cultural knowledge. Similarly, on the theory of “cultural diversity”, the present thesis attempts to explore the cultural factors exerting influence on humor communication by bringing examples into the scope of cross-cultural communication for analysis.

Key words：humor; theories of humor; differences; similarities; cross-cultural communication

1 Introduction

When we look around our world nowadays, we will find that people have more opportunities to communicate with each other and to form a closer relationship. We must prepare ourselves to face the challenges. Humor, a frequently-used communication skill, plays a significant role in people’s daily communications. It helps to bridge the communication gaps between people from diverse cultures. People may use humorous language, if possible, anywhere, anytime. It’s humor that makes our life more colorful, more joyful and more exciting.