（英语语言文学专业论文）从关联理论初探中文手机短信幽默.pdf

descriptive chinese abstract i 摘 要 摘 要 手机短信语言是在手机上广为流传使用的语言，它是当下经济文化环境和人们 的心理活动等因素的产物。作为人际信息传播的新宠，手机短信语言所呈现的鲜明特征 已为语言学界所关注。 手机短信文本中含有大量的言语幽默， 这些幽默短信诙谐有趣， 折射出人们的智慧和人生的态度，给我们带来无限的欢乐。 关联理论作为一种后格莱斯语用学理论，已经发展成为当今语用学研究中很有影响 的理论。该理论以追求话语的合理或得体解读为己任，依据非论证性推理，大胆尝试一 种听者如何针对言者的话语选择一个恰当解读，从而作出彻底解释。sperber 和 wilson 认为， 说话人总是倾向于生成最关联的话语， 听话人也会倾向于注意那些最关联的现象， 并在产生最佳关联的语境条件下对它们进行处理。值得注意的是，最大关联有时并非是 最佳关联，最佳关联才是认知的关键。 关联理论为幽默的研究提供了新的视角。从关联理论的角度来看，幽默理解是一个 听者寻找关联的认知过程。按照关联理论，寻求最佳关联的理解包括对言语幽默的处理 和幽默效果的获得，额外的努力意味着额外的效果。由于在言语幽默中最大关联与最佳 关联分别指向不同的交际意义， 所以可以说言语幽默来自于最大关联与最佳关联之间的 意义反差。本文从关联理论的角度对中文手机短信文本中的幽默作了分析，试图找出手 机短信文本中幽默的组织和理解机制。 本文还重点分析了幽默类手机短信文本中的不协调， 并用 francisco yus 的模式对其 从关联理论的角度进行解读。 为了研究的需要，本文对中文手机短信文本的幽默进行了界定和分类。把手机短信 幽默分为四类：普通幽默文化幽默语言幽默以及语境幽默。通过对这四类幽默手机 短信的探索性研究，从而发现关联理论对手机短信幽默具有很强的适用性和解释力。 关键词：幽默；手机短信文本；关联理论；不协调；认知语境关键词：幽默；手机短信文本；关联理论；不协调；认知语境 english abstract ii abstract sms (short message service) text language refers to the language used at mobile phones, which results from factors such as economy, culture, environment and peoples psychological activities of current era. sms text is becoming a new idol of communication. many linguists have paid close attention to the characteristics of this unique language. there are a lot of humorous utterances in sms text. humor in sms text is amusing which reflects the sms text writers wisdom and life attitudes and brings us great pleasure. as a post-gricean theory of pragmatics, relevance theory (hereinafter referred to as rt for short) has developed into a very influential theory in contemporary pragmatic research. based on non-demonstrative inference, rt attempts to provide a thorough explanation on how hearers choose a particular interpretation that is consistent with the speakers intention. according to sperber and wilson, what ensures communicative success is the pursuit of optimal relevance on the part of both the speaker and the hearer. it is the claim to optimal relevance that guides the hearer to identify the speakers intended context for a given utterance. the search for optimal relevance guides the hearer not only to the speakers intended context but also to the speakers intended interpretation. the central claim of rt is that the expectations of relevance raised by an utterance are precise enough, and predictable enough, to guide the audience towards the speakers meaning. rt provides a new perspective on the analysis of humor understanding. from a relevance-theoretic point of view, humor understanding is a cognitive process of searching for relevance. in relevance theory, a mental search for an optimal relevant interpretation covers the processing of verbal humor and the derivation of humorous effects. extra effort means extra effects. when the hearers expectation of maximal relevance is extremely different from or incongruous with the speakers actual utterance of optimal relevance, humorous effects accompanied by misunderstanding occur. the thesis attempts to approach humor in chinese sms texts from the perspective of relevance and tries to discover the mechanism of constructing and understanding it. the thesis also lays emphasis on the incongruity in sms text and employs francisco yus mgi-sci model to interpret humor in sms text from the relevance perspective. english abstract iii the thesis begins by delimiting and classifying humor in sms text. humor in sms text can be tentatively categorized into four types: general humor, cultural humor, linguistic humor and contextual humor. by probing into the four humor types, we can draw a conclusion that relevance theory has a strong explanation on interpreting humor as well as its applicability. key words: humor; sms text; relevance theory; incongruity; cognitive environment 湘湘 潭潭 大大 学学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的研 究成果。除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其它个人或集 体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已 在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保留 并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权湘潭大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检 索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 涉密论文按学校规定处理。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 导师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 introduction 1 introduction humor is a topic that has long drawn the interest of many linguists as well as other researchers. it has been studied from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint that includes fields such as linguistics, rhetoric, aesthetics, philosophy, and sociology, just to mention a few. the study of humor can be traced back to the time of aristotle and freud. aristotle in the poetics, freud in jokes and their relations to the unconscious and by schopenhauer had undertaken notable studies on humor. due to unremitting efforts by humor theorists, various theories have been developed, which may prove to be effective in accounting for certain kinds or aspects of humor while disregarding other kinds or aspects. so far, not a single broad theory has been developed to account for all the main qualities of humor simultaneously. chinese sms text, also known as text message, rich in humor, is a form of writing enjoyed by most chinese people. sms text is approaching us now and influencing our life unconsciously. although it has gained a foothold in china and enjoyed a national fame as a popular culture, it is a pity that people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds can hardly appreciate chinese sms text. a lot of factors such as the plots, chains of wisecracks, punch lines, doggerels, rhymed lines, jesting language, and many up-to-date coinages can be sources of humor in sms text. humorous text message reflects various kinds of delight and wisdom by mobile phone and language. it is becoming a new idol of communication. many linguists have paid close attention to the characteristics of this unique language. relevance theory provides a new perspective on the analysis of humor understanding. from a relevance-theoretic point of view, humor understanding is a cognitive process of searching for relevance. according to sperber and wilson (1986/1995), rt may be seen as an attempt to work out in details one of grices central claims: that an essential feature of most human communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is the expression and recognition of intentions. the fundamental assumption of relevance theory is that all information processing is relevance-oriented. according to the two theorists, relevance is defined in terms of cognitive effects and processing effort, and follows two rules: 1. the greater the cognitive effects, the greater the relevance; 2. the smaller the processing effort, the greater the relevance. at the same time, sperber and wilson propose two important principles: the cognitive principle that human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance; and the communicative principle that utterances create presumptions of optimal relevance. introduction 2 why can sms text create humor? what are the causal elements of humor in sms text? what is the underlying humor mechanism in sms text? the current thesis intends to explore the construction and understanding of humor in chinese text message by employing relevance theory，which may prove to be a powerful framework for humor research. the main subject of this thesis is chinese sms text, so all the sms texts occurring in the paper refer to chinese sms texts. the body part of this thesis has four chapters altogether. chapter one is an overview of chinese sms text with the emphasis on its formation, classification and characteristics. chapter two is devoted to the delimitation and classification of humor in sms text, which is a necessary preparation for later analysis. chapter three is to expound on relevance theory and incongruity and yuss mgi-sci model. incongruity and yuss model are two variants within rts framework. this chapter is the theoretic framework of this thesis. chapter four is the core part of this thesis. major arguments are made in this chapter. the whole part will revolve around the relevance theory, in other words, this chapter is to find out how we understand and appreciate the humor in sms text. there are three sections in it. the first section is a general application of sperber and wilsons rt. the second section is a relevance-theoretic look at incongruity in sms text and the third section is a look at humor in yuss mgi-sci model. the last is the conclusion part. this part summarizes the major findings and points out the limitations of this thesis and provides some suggestions for future research. chapter 1 an overview of sms text 3 chapter 1 an overview of sms text 1.1 origin and formation of sms text the fast development of new information communication technology (ict) has brought us with new digital media and diversified communication channels that enable free global information to flow beyond conventional borders and boundaries. sms text, also known as text message, is one of these new digital communication channels, which has been called the “killer” application of mobile phones, as its usage exceeded all expectations. it has rapidly risen to a prominent status that it is arguably considered as “the fifth media”. sms text relies on a computer-mediated network called gsm communication. the sms text language and the internet language both are subcategories of cmd (computer-mediated discourse), which explains why they have some similarities, so it comes with no surprise that they can share some phrases and expressions. cmd is the communication produced when human beings interact with one another by transmitting messages via computers network. the study of cmd is a specialization within the broader interdisciplinary study of computer-mediated communication. people communicate via computer networks is a recent phenomenon. originally designed in the united states in the late 1960s to facilitate the transfer of computer programs and data between remote computers for the sake of national defense, computer networks caught on almost immediately as a means of interpersonal communication, first among computer scientists in the early 1970s (hafner sutherland and thompson,2001). sms text was an accidental success that took everyone in the mobile industry by surprise. in early 1990s mobile phone is still a luxurious product for few rich people in china. yet it has become a common consumption with fast development of technology and decreasing charges (ding yan humorous text message; life experiential text message; work text message and commercial text message. chapter 1 an overview of sms text 7 1. affective text message is a kind of text message to send blessing between family members, relatives, friends or classmates. for example: m1: 我怕今天起得晚，所以预定今天清晨第一缕阳光给你，祝你教师节快乐！预定 第一缕晨风给你，祝你一帆风顺，预定第一声鸟鸣给你，祝你心想事成！ (i am afraid i will get up late this morning, so i have booked the first sunshine to you, may you happy on teachers day; the first breeze to you, may you successful all your life; the first chirpping to you, may all your wishes fulfilled.) the receiver of the m1 should be a teacher and the sender uses three parallel sentences to form a poetic picture. the senders sincere blessing is presented to the receiver by resorting to the visual colors and auditory appreciation. early morning, sunshine, breezing and chirping form a beautiful scene from the vision to the auditory and from the static to the dynamic. 2. humorous text message is another kind of short message for entertainment. people use this kind of short message to seek enjoyment and have fun after their busy work. appropriate jokes not only lessen the pressure deriving from the fast-developing technical society, but also strengthen the communication among people. m2: 黑猩猩不小心踩了长臂猿拉的大便，长臂猿温柔细心地帮她擦洗干净后，他们 相爱了，别人问他们是怎么走到一起的，黑猩猩感慨地说：“猿粪！都是猿粪啊！” (a chimpanzee stepped into the excrement of a gibbon incautiously, the gibbon washed the chimp carefully and then they fell into love with each other. some people asked what made them to be lovers, the chimp answered with deep emotion, “excrement! excrement! ”) m2 uses chinese homophones“猿粪(yuanfen)”(monkeys excrement) and “缘分 (yuanfen)”(predestined relationship) to form a love story between the gibbon and the chimp, and the two phrases are puns too. 3. life experiential text message is a kind of message reflecting life, career and social experience. someones experience is accumulated through the knowledge of life, which can be used to guide the others and resolve the difficulties occurring in work, even encourage the loved ones. m3: 小猪问妈妈幸福在哪里，妈妈说幸福就在自己的尾巴上。于是小猪开始用嘴咬 它的小尾巴，妈妈笑笑说：“孩子，只要你一直往前走，幸福会一直跟着你的！” (a little pig asked his mother where the happiness is, his mother told him the happiness is on his tail. so the little pig began to bite his little tail. the mother pig said smilingly, “boy, so long as you go ahead, the happiness will follow you forever!”) chapter 1 an overview of sms text 8 in m3, the dialogue between the two pigs tells us the abstract philosophy in simple words and facts, which make people to believe that happiness is practical. 4. work text message is often adopted between the employers and the employees, among the colleagues to carry out the work information or work schedule. the following item belongs to this kind of text message: m4: 为庆祝“三八”妇女节，外院为各位女研究生特备礼品一份，请各位于节前 到研究生楼二栋 518 领取。 (the foreign language institute has prepared some gifts for every female postgraduate to celebrate the womens day. please draw them in room 518, postgraduate building 2.) 5. businesses around the world are also finding ways to benefit from the sms. there are two kinds of commercial text messages, business services and business advertisement. m5: 尊敬的北京用户，湖南移动通信有限责任公司热忱欢迎您来到美丽的雁城 衡阳。寿岳衡山。千古圣地。中国移动服务热线 1860。 (honorable beijing mobile customer, you are welcome to the beautiful wild goose city-hengyang, which is a holy place for thousand years and renowned for nanyue mount, the longevity mount in china. china mobile service line: 1860.) m6: 值此国庆中秋来临之际，艾美舍女子会所为回报广大会员，特优价酬宾，更多 的美丽，更多的惊喜尽在艾美舍。 (aimeishe ladies club rewards their members with low price on the national day and mid- autumn festival. more beauty and more surprise are all in aimeishe.) m5 is a combination business message of service and advertisement, while m6 is just a message of business advertisement. 1.4 previous research on sms text in light of the physical characteristics and technological capabilities of sending sms text via a mobile phone, we may say that the sms text language is a novelty which appeals to many scholars interest. people often make a study on it within the frameworks of communication, sociology and linguistics. academic interest in text message is only newly-rising and fairly scattered. according to the collected data, there is no one monograph on this topic within the scope of linguistics till chapter 1 an overview of sms text 9 now. papers on sms texts are mainly dispersed in all kinds of academic periodicals and newspapers. the research subjects are involved in the following aspects: firstly, culture and language features of sms text have become the primary themes discussed by some researchers. for instance, liu yingzi ( 手机短信的文化解读 a cultural interpretation of electronic note, 2004) analyzed cultural clash and cultural crisis concealed behind the culture of sms text; liu xudong (后现代语境下的短信文化 sms text culture under postmodernism contexts，2004) probed into the impact of postmodernism on sms text and put forward that sms text culture presents one of the nowadays popular cultures and it belongs to a carnival discourse deriving from the cultural context of postmodernism; zhou qiuzhi (短信语言初探 preliminary study on sms text language, 2006) discussed the characters of sms texts language. language formation characters, style features and figures of speech are also studied in this thesis. secondly, literature and writing traits of sms text draw our attention. ye congrong (2004) pointed out the basic characteristics of sms texts literature and cai pengfei ( 论手机 短信写作on the writing of sms text，2004) had a research on how to write sms texts. at the same time, meng jianan (手机短信话语文本的语体学分析 analysis on sms texts style，2004) discussed the types of writing on sms texts. zhong humei (手机短信文学的 特征和价值characteristics and value of sms text literature，2005) studied the traits of sms text literature and value of such kind of discourse. among which the author suggested that sms text is a cyberspace literature and it has reconstructed the present literature family. thirdly, rhetoric features of sms text is an unavoidable hot topic to many scholars; especially the chinese scholars. chinese language is full of figures of speech and many relevant researches have been done from ancient time. chenyao (2003) wrote a paper on the tropes of sms text. wang zhening(浅谈手机文学短信中的访拟修辞parodies in sms texts literature，2006) analyzed parody in sms text in detail. the paper listed four levels of parodies in sms text: words, sentences, paragraphs and styles. yang xiying(手机短信中的 修辞格figures of speech in sms text，2006) listed sixteen figures of speech in this paper, such as simile, personification and hyperbole etc. lastly, many other researchers have done text and pragmatic research on sms text. cai lvyan(手机短信语篇分析discourse analyzing on the sms text, 2006) investigated text features of sms text and wei chunyan(娱乐类文本短信的语用分析 pragmatic analyzing on the recreational sms text, 2005) had a pragmatic analysis on entertainment sms text. zheng qingjun(2006) made a study on functions and discourse model of sms texts chapter 1 an overview of sms text 10 which are filled with parodies. besides, there are several ma theses whose subjects are sms text. in his ma thesis, li dongyun（