Abstract

Humor is a ubiquitous phenomenon among mankind and has been the fabric of human life. A good humor is not only entertaining, but also instrumental in interpersonal relationships. The study of humor has engaged numerous scholars from various fields, such as psychology, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, etc. Among them the linguistic study of humor may be the most fruitful.
Though many researchers have studied humor from the perspective of pragmatics, their study is far from convincing to all. For one thing, there are few case studies in their research, and for another, the theoretical framework they base on is generally a single one, instead of a combination of several plausible pragmatic theories. Such being the case, this paper probes into the production of humor with such pragmatic theories as cooperative principle, speech act theory, relevance theory and presupposition, among which the cooperative principle will be the major apparatus to account for humor production.
Drawing on examples from literary works and spontaneous humorous English conversations, this paper will discuss humor in pragmatic terms. It is found that humor is created in case when cooperative principle is violated, when speech acts are misunderstood, when the requirement of relevance is unfulfilled, or when presupposition fails to work. In the latter part of this paper, it gives a glimpse into the functions of humor in human society, at both individual and social level.

KEYWORDS:pragmatic study; English humor; pragmatic apparatuses

摘　要

幽默无所不在，并已成为人类生活必不可少的一部分。好的幽默不仅能娱乐他人，更能促进人际关系。对于幽默的研究已吸引了许许多多的学者，他们来自各种不同的领域，如心理学、哲学、社会学、语言学等。其中，幽默的语言学研究的成果也许是最为显著的。
虽然很多研究者都从语用学角度研究过幽默，但他们所做的研究还远远不能信服大众。究其原因，第一，他们的研究中个案研究很少；其二，他们的理论依据通常是单一的语用学理论，而没有与其他的语用学理论相结合。基于这个现状，本文试以合作原则、言语行为理论、关联理论和预设这些语用学理论来阐释幽默，并以合作原则为最主要的研究工具。
本文以文学作品中和生活中自发的英语幽默会话为例，从语用学的角度探讨幽默。本文研究发现，当人们在交流中违反合作原则、对言语行为产生误解、没满足关联要求、或所做的预设失去效用时，就可能产生幽默。在文末部分，本文将从个人和社会的层面浅析幽默在人类社会中所发挥的作用。

关键词:语用学研究; 英语幽默; 语用学工具