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江西理工大学第二届英语辅修班毕业生论文第二届英语辅修班毕业论文Analysis on Humor学 院：机电学院专 业：电气工程及其自动化班 级：07级2班姓 名：罗新指导老师：张建中 职 称：CONTENTSABSTRACT 3Chapter The Introduction of Humor5Chapter Relationship between Logic ,Language and Humor7Chapter Logic Analysis83.1 Violation of the Law of Identity83.1.1 Concept Confusion93.1.2Concept Substitution93.1.3 Topic Substitution93.1.4 Topic Divergence103.2 Violation of the Law of Non-contradiction103.3. Violation of the Law of the Excluded Middle103.4 Violation of the Law of Ample Reasons123.5Unexpected Results from Influence12Chapter How to Achieve to be Humorous14Chapter V Conclusion15ABSTRACTNowadays social skills are more and more important for a person.Among the skills humor plays a significant role .How humor make our daily life different?What cause humor?What can we do to cultivate a sense of humor? In this essay, I will show the analysis of humor in a logical way.Since analysising humour is a rather complicated case, I choose a rather shallow way which also can have a clear explanation on how the humour works. Most of my essay is inspired from international communication between executants and respondents. As we all know ,through the violation of logic ,people achieve to be humorous ,that is the violation of the law of Identity;the law of Non-contradiction and the Excluded Middle,which is the three basic laws in logic and other logic laws .Also,the essay introduce three ways to cultivate a sense of humor .Hope that this can help those who want to be humorous and make achievement in mastering the social skills .Key words：humour; logic; violation摘 要现今，人际交往技能愈来愈重要，而幽默在这当中扮演了一个重要的角色。幽默如何让我们的生活不同？我们该如何培养自己的幽默？本篇文章，将从逻辑的角度分析幽默。鉴于这个过程相当复杂，笔者仅从一个狭小的范围阐明幽默。众所周知，人们通过违背逻辑规律来实现幽默，比如，逻辑中的三大基本规律：同一律；矛盾律；排中律等其他规律。此外，本文还介绍了三种方式来培养幽默感。谨此给予想要成为幽默之人些许建议，并在人际交往中获得成功。关键词：幽默；逻辑；违背5CHAPTER THE INTRODUCTION OF HUMOR As we all know, we often can feel the existence of humour in our daily life. From this point, we can know that humour plays an rather important role in our life and this can be proved throughout our history. In addition, humour is a complex dynamic system. In a broader sence, Humour can give reflections of all kinds of life phenomena. To some extent, humour often reveals the general weaknesses of the ordinary person. But, with the help of humour, what should be offensive or cause pity at first in real life can be funny and without harm in another prospect.The audience laughs not at a real person but the character who typifies ugliness or baseness. Moreover, Humour has its soothing power. It instantly takes us away even if for moments from our troubles or embarrassments and makes them easier to bear and it gives us power to view the happened in a new prospective.This way we gain a chance to relax our nerves, to readjust our attitudes towards our life and even to ourselves. Throughout the human literary history, humour has been studied by all kinds of psychologists, physiologists, philosophers linguists and also our normal people. My interest in this essay will focus on the funny effect caused by the different perspectives assumed by the two speakers in a conversation: something that we may call interactional humor. The word interactional stands for the relationship between executants and respondent and between the suppositions and entailments. With the analysis of humour especially on how humours effect is created in a logic way, I think the knowledge of what is logically wrong in humours and deviant modes of thinking in humour will be well illustrated and through this essay people will have a better understand of humour rather than just enjoy the fun it takes.Most people tend to analyse humor from the language or linguistic perspective,while,in this essay,I would like to talk something about the violation of logic that cause humor,that is to say,the the mode of thinking that give rise to illogical utterances. Aristotle as the real founder of the study of logic describes three laws as the basis of all valid logic: the Law of Identity (A is A), the Law of Non-contradiction (A cannot be both A and not A), and the Law of Excluded Middle (A must be either Aor not A). CHAPTER II RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOGIC,LANGUAGE AND HUMOR The relation between language and logic forms the root of the interaction between humor and logic. In the surface,the language convey the speakers thought,meanwhile,the illogic expressions hiding behind the language make the humor possible .The view that language is the material appearance of thought and thoughts are expressed in a mental language dates back to the time of Plato. It is commonly acknowledged that a speakers real intention can be known through his own language Hu zhuanglin;237页. There must be some logical principles to guide the expression in each discourse. Logical inconsistency is a key element of humor leading to a laugh. In analyzing humor, logical mechanism is also the prior element to be understood . A complex presupposition, a false syllogism, the mismanagement of because and therefore, and circling logics are all the logical triggers to humor Nash;112页.CHAPTER III LOGICAL ANALYSIS Logical deviation sometimes occurs at each level of logical thinking, which includes faulty reasoning, vicious circles, false analogy and false syllogism. This section I will narrow the scope down by restricting analysis to the incongruity-based humor where likelihood, logical malpractice concerning the violation of logical laws, false analogy together with unexpected result from logical inference function in the humorous effect.3.1 Violation of the Law of Identity According to the Law of Identity, anything is always consistent with itself. It says that the things we refer to in our communication should be the same ones. The formula of this law is: A is A. A refers to any conception or proposition. That is to say, in the same context, the same meaning should be expressed through the same semantic expression. Humor may arise when the law of identity is not followed. Common mistakes of this violation include concept confusion, concept substitution, topic substitution and topic divergence.3.1.1Concept Confusion Every concept has it own intention and extension. When the intension and the extension of the concept change, then makes the concept confusion. The real connotation differs although apparently the same literal expression is used. The incongruity leads to humor.Example 1:Teacher: Find Australia on the map for me, Johnny. Johnny: Its there, sir. Teacher: Thats right. Now Sammy, who discovered Australia? Sammy: Johnny, sir. you mo da quan Sammy has confused the reference of the sentence who discovered Australia?In fact, we all know what the teacher real means is of course not Johnny. But the students perspective is that he just really remember the teacher let the student Johnny find out the position of Australia in a map. They make confusion between the question itself and the question referred to. It is a referential ambiguity script joke.3.1.2Concept Substitution when the speaker substitutes the real meaning of one concept for a specific situation, and uses it indicating another meaning which is quite different with the previous one. then come to a case of concept substitution. The contrast of these two connotations of the same expression creates an incongruity and makes laughter.Example 2: Employer: For this job we want a responsible man. Applicant: Then you want me. Everywhere Ive worked when something went wrong they said I was responsible. Wang jianping Responsible man means the person should be strict with his job, and ensure that his work is well qualified. But the applicants understanding is not in conformity with this. What he says tells that he should bear the responsibility for his mistakes, and that indicates that he is careless, without a sense of responsibility. In fact, the same responsible carries the opposite meaning. The ambiguity of the word gives the choice of substitution and creates the funny effect. In this short discourse, the word responsible should carry one definite meaning. In fact, the device of using a word that can express ambiguity meanings is an easily understood one.3.1.3Topic substitution Topic substitution means using one judgment to substitute another, or using one prerequisite to substitute the whole prerequisite.Example 3: Robber: money! Lady:ahhelp!help! Robber:shout more and I will kill you. Lady:I only have 5 dollars with me. Robber:ah Lady:stop shouting you mo da quan The lady shouting because she meet a robber, the robber stopped her from shouting because he do not want be caught by others; the robber shouting because the lady only have 5 dollars with her, the lady stopped him from shouting because she dose not want others to know that he only have 5 dollars with herself. 3.1.4Topic Divergence Topics divergence refers to a change in the direction of the conversation instead of following the course of communication:Example 4: Mary was so disgusted at her husbands cigarette smoking that she complained to him one day. I hope that all the cigarette factories will catch fire someday. Dont worry, dear. All the cigarettes will be on fire sooner or later. He said with a smile. Levinson;311 The first fire means the factories will be destroyed by big fire, while the second fire means the cigarettes will be lit and then smoked. Their semantic meanings differ a lot in this context. The real meaning of a sentence is largely determined by the context in which it occurs. As language can serve many purposes, only with the overall consideration of the specific background can we obtain the correct intention of the expression. 3.2 Violation of the Law of Non-contradiction A cannot be both A and not A means that if anything is said to have a certain attribute, it cannot be said not to have that attribute. Many humorous stories come from flouting this law.Example 5: My mother and I were standing at the checkout in the supermarket as the cashier scanned the things we bought. When the price of a bottle of orange juice was scanned as $4, my mother said, Its only $3.95. The cashier stopped what she was doing and disappeared down one of the aisles to check the price. She soon returned and said that the price was $3.95. When she handed my mother the change, the five cent coin rolled onto the floor. Much to my amusement, as the cashier bent over to search for it, my mother said Oh, dont bother, its only five cents. /htmljoke/english/4328.htm The mother shows totally different attitude towards a sum of five cents. When only five cents is overcharged on her, she is very serious with the price while when she lost the five cents, she doesnt care. This contradictory attitude brings a sense of humor.3.3 Violation of the Law of the Excluded Middle A must be either A or not A is the main idea of Violation of the Law of the Excluded Middle, it says that a statement should either has certain a meaning or does not have that meaning. Therefore, a word or sentence that carries one intention together with the opposite intention is not allowed.Example 6: Three workers are looking at a new machine the factory has just bought. They feel puzzled about the mark G.K 230 on the machine. A: This mark must mean that the machine is imported from abroad. B: No, it is produced in China. C: You are both wrong. It means that the machine is for export and is sold in the domestic market. Wang jianping At first, we get the sentence You are both wrong means which he believes the machine is neither made in China nor abroad. Thats rather ridiculous. Is it possible for the machine to be produced in space? So his answer violates the Law of the Excluded Middle. His further explanation tells the truth that the machine is made in China.3.4 Violation of the Law of Ample Reasons The law of Ample Reasons requires that all conclusions be based on ample reasons. That is to say, we should provide enough reasons in rational reasoning from what is known to what is unknown.Example 7: Jimmy and Tommy went off on their bikes for a picnic in the woods. They had one bottle of lemonade between them. Jimmy went to explore while Tommy unpacked the food. When he returned, he found the bottle was empty. Hey! he exclaimed crossly. Half of that was mine! I know, said Tommy, But I was thirsty, and as my half was at the bottom of the bottle I had to drink through yours to get to it. Gong Tommy is so clever in fording an apparently reasonable answer. There is an incongruity between the usual case and the boys explanation.3.5 Unexpected Results from Inference Humorous effect is created by the temporal sequence and manner in which the scene is described or revealed, with earlier stages of the text establishing expectations to be violated or tensions to be released. We are led to expect one interpretation whereas another is suddenly revealed as the correct reading. The greater the divergence of a stimulus from expectation in one or many dimensions, the funnier the stimulus is.Example 9: Your methods of cultivation are hopelessly out of date, said a youthful agricultural college graduate to the old farmer, Why, Id be astonished if you got even ten pounds of apples from that tree. So would I, replied the farmer. Its a pear tree. qing nian wen zhai At first,we deeply believe the youthful agricultural college graduates statements because he was an agricultural graduate and we thought he should be an aspect in this kind of situation. The farmers first words support us this assumption which made us more sure about it, while the farmers second words shocked us and let us realize that it is a pear tree rather than an apple tree. Here are two incongruities: the pear-tree answer is inconsistent with our expectation; the truth that its a pear tree is inconsistent with the young mans first apple-tree assumption. The punch line makes us review that the young man is very confident in his judgment in the turnout of the apple tree while he makes a ridiculous mistake of not knowing what the apple tree is like. His arrogance and his status as an agricultural college graduate unable to tell between an apple tree and a pear tree constitutes the contrast.CHAPTER IV HOW TO ACHIEVE TO BE HUMOROUS As a student who are keen on humor,I am always confronted with some troubles and embarrassments.However,by being humorous ,I escaped from the embarrassing situation.Since the great importance of humor ,it is necessary for us to be humorous in suitable circumstance.From what I have leant,here ,I will mention some ways to cultivate s sense of humor.1、 Try to master the logic .Logic perfect a man.Most humor and laughs are created by logic.Through violate different rules of logic.it either create a funny atomospere or a sense of ignorance.We need to be careful when use humor and choose the right circumstance.2、 Not only learn the logic subject,we still need to read as much as possible to be really knowlegable person.So we can provide a bigger stage to let humor display itself.3、 Have more practice.Practice makes perfect .In our daily life,there are many occassions for us to give the listeners a sense of humor.At first, it seems that you are artificial,with time goes on,you will find that you are a humorous person to bring happiness to the people around you. Definitely, there are lots of methods to be humorous ,opinions vary from person to person ,here, I only raise three ways of significant importance for reference.CHAPTER CONCLUSION As we all know, the knowledge of using humour has a lot to consider, such as the choice of words, the ways of expression and other formulas and so on, so as to the work of analysis of humour. It is usually more complicate after we really start to study a field of a language. From the above analysis we came to the idea that logical factors are the main causes to produce humorous incongruity in communication. My logical analysis lays particular emphasis on the violation