【英语论文】论马克吐温的幽默—浅析《哈克贝里费恩历险记》(英文)

1、攀枝花学院本科毕业论文on the humor of mark twainan analysis of the adventures of huckleberry finn论马克吐温的幽默浅析哈克贝里芬历险记 学生姓名： 学生学号： 200310830084 院（系）： 外国语学院 年级专业： 2004级英语本科2班 指导教师： 二八年五月contentsabstractikey wordsi摘 要ii关键词iiintroduction1i. literature review2a. cooperative principle2b. humor and humor theories31. th

2、e definition of humor32. theories of humor32.1 superiority theories32.2 release theories42.3 incongruity theories4ii. the violation of cooperative principle and the humor of mark twain6a. humor created by violating maxim of quality61. saying what you believe to be false62. saying what for which you

3、have no evidence10b. humor created by violating maxim of quantity111. abundance of the amount of information122. deficiency of the amount of information13c. humor created by violating maxim of relation14conclusion17acknowledgements18bibliography19abstractthis thesis attempts to analyze humorous exam

4、ples occurred in mark twains masterpiece the adventures of huckleberry finn in terms of cooperative principle to obtain the humor of mark twain from pragmatic angle. next, on the analysis of the detailed study of the adventures of huckleberry finn, the author of this thesis probes into unique humor

5、of mark twain through numerous examples generated by violation of cooperative principle, then mainly concentrates on the analysis of violation of three maxims of cooperative principle integrated with humor theories, namely, quality maxim, quantity maxim, and relation maxim. from this way, a sufficie

6、nt inquiry of humor of mark twain in the adventures of huckleberry finn can be achieved, which is chiefly applied by mark twain to make readers think deeply after laughing. and then the result can guide the readers to have a better understanding of mark twain and his works, and it can also guide rea

7、ders to appreciate works of mark twain from pragmatic angle.key wordsthe humor of mark twain; cooperative principle; violation 摘 要本文尝试运用语用学中合作原则的违背产生幽默的理论，并结合三大幽默理论来分析马克吐温的代表作哈克贝里芬历险记中的幽默实例，从而得出作者眼中的马克吐温的幽默。本文主要集中分析对合作原则的三个准则及其相关次则的违背，它们分别是：质的准则，量的准则，关系准则。基于对马克吐温的代表作哈克贝里芬历险记的仔细研读，本文作者通过详实的例子，探究马克吐温独

8、特的幽默写作风格，希望能对读者阅读幽默大师的作品有所帮助， 对读者从语言学方面理解马克吐温的作品有一定的指导作用。关键词马克吐温的幽默；合作原则；违背introductionhumor is a form of communication with an intent to amuse, including special cognitive and emotional characteristics, that causes a psychological reaction (ziv, 1998). next, according to websters encyclopedic unabr

9、idged dictionary of the english dictionary, it defines humor as: 1. a comic quality causing amusement; 2. the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical; 3. the faculty of expressing the amusing or comical; 4. comical writing or talk in general. apart from the definitions of humor given in var

10、ious ways, what causes humor or what amuses people has been a major concern of studies of humor. traditional theories of humor fall into three types: the incongruity theory, the superiority theory and the release theory.according to collected materials, most scholars explore the humor of mark twain

11、in his works through analyzing numerous humorous examples selected from those distinguished works. there are other articles which set focus on combination mark twains works with some pragmatic theories related to humor. compared to those articles, from the analysis of those theories mentioned above,

12、 this thesis attempts a pragmatic explorationespecially the cooperative principle, mainly setting focus on the theory that violation of cooperative principle can elicit humor, based on the analysis of mark twains masterpiece the adventure of huckleberry finn. finally, the author of this thesis has a

13、 desire to obtain the humor of mark twain from pragmatic angle combined with humor theories.chapter 1 is about the literature review, such as the definition of western humor, theories of humor and basic knowledge of cooperative principle.chapter 2 focuses on the main body of this thesis, which eluci

14、dates on humor of mark twain from pragmatic angle. first, in terms of the theory that violation of cooperative principle can create humor, some useful and precise examples can be sought. then based on theories mentioned above, an exact and suitable analysis will be made to illustrate the authors ide

15、a that the humor of mark twain, to some extent, is achieved by means of violation of cooperative principle.i. literature reviewa. cooperative principle we now know that quite often the speaker can mean a lot more than what is said. the problem is then to explain how the speaker can manage to convey

16、more than what is said and how the hearer can arrive at the speakers implied meaning. oxford philosopher herbert paul grice proposes that in ordinary conversation, speakers and hearers share a cooperative principle. speakers shape their utterances to be understood by hearers. he suggests that there

17、is a set of assumptions guiding the conduct of conversation. this is what he calls the cooperative principle, which simply means that people engaged in conversation will say something suitable at that point in the development of the talk. he formulates the principle as follows: (grice, 1975)make you

18、r contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.to grice and his followers, one reason why what is said in conversational discourse “makes sense” in spite of the missing implicit elements, is the

19、cooperative principle. grices endeavor has been to establish a set of general principles, with the aim of explaining how language users communicate indirect meanings (so-called conversational implicatures, i.e., implicit meanings which have to be inferred from what is being said explicitly, on the b

20、asis of logical deduction.)here we mainly deal with the first 3 maxims:1. maxim of quality: be truthfula. do not say that what you believe to be false.b. do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.2. maxim of quantity: be informativea. make your contributions as informative as required (fo

21、r the current purpose of the exchange).b. do not make your contribution more informative than required.3. maxim of relation: be relevantas a matter of fact, speakers do not always follow these maxims; they often violate them. the important thing is that whether the speaker follows or violates these

22、maxims, he produces a kind of extra meaning that is not contained in the utterance. violations of the maxims used properly can be funny and act as a trigger. it is an important reason for the production of humor. with regard to humor, let us look at some basic points at the very beginning.b. humor a

23、nd humor theories1. the definition of humorwhat is humor? there are two definitions in longman contemporary dictionary: one is the ability to be amused, and the other is the quality of causing amusement. in addition, according to websters encyclopedic unabridged dictionary of the english dictionary,

24、 it defines humor as: 1. a comic quality causing amusement; 2. the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical; 3. the faculty of expressing the amusing or comical; 4. comical writing or talk in general (692). in china, lin yutang states that “humor is a state of mind. more than that, it is a p

25、eriod of view, a way of looking at life. the flower of humor blooms whenever in the course of development of a nation there is an exuberance of intellect able to flay its own ideas, for human is nothing but intellect slashing at itself.” (lin yutang, 1998:65)2. theories of humordate back to the anci

26、ents including plato and aristotle, theories of humor have been posted, examined and developed throughout the intervening centuries; humor theories and humor research have generally fallen into three main categories: superiority theory, incongruity theory, and release theory.2.1 superiority theories

27、a first class of humor theories, whose roots lie in classical greek and roman rhetorical theory, includes those theories of humor based on malice, hostility, derision, aggression, disparagement, and/or superiority. plato suggests that humor is some kind of malice towards people that are being consid

28、ered relatively powerless. aristotle believes comedy is an imitation of men who are worse than the average. thomas hobbes, in a compositional analysis of the range of human emotions, points out the role of the feeling of superiority in humor. hobbes explains that humans are in a constant competition

29、 with each other, looking for shortcoming of other persons. he considers laughter as an expression of a sudden realization of “sudden glory”. 2.2 release theoriesthe release theory has a clear physiological or psycho-physiological nature, which perceives humor and laughter as a release of the tensio

30、ns and inhibitions generated by societal constraints. freud is the chief exponent of release theories of humor, most eloquently articulated in jokes and their relation to the unconscious (1961). he distinguishes between “innocent” and “tendentious” jokes, where tendentious jokes have a sexual or agg

31、ressive content, and are capable of eliciting howling laughter, while innocent jokes have emotional impact, and elicit just a smile or chuckle or less. the term, “humor” in fact is restricted in freuds terminology to comic interpretations based on the super-ego, while jokes are based in the unconsci

32、ous. (freud, 1961:165)2.3 incongruity theoriesthe incongruity theories of humor, which virtually dominates contemporary psychological research into humor (1985: 32-33), is the most influential approach to the study of humor and laughter. incongruity theories have an old and a respected history. kant

33、 and schopenhauer proposed incongruity-based theories of humor, but the concept may go back as far as the greeks and certainly to the renaissance (attardo 1994: 40). beatties definition is surprisingly modern: laughter arises from the view of two or more inconsistent, unsuitable, or incongruous part

34、s or circumstances, considered as united in one complex object or assemblage, or as acquiring a sort of mutual relation from the peculiar manner in which the mind takes notice of them. (ritchie, 1999) kant, in the eighteen century, is credited to have made the first full conceptualization of incongr

35、uity. he says that humor arises “from sudden transformation of a strained expectation into soothing.” (attardo, 1994: 49) attention is usually drawn to the suddenness of the transformation and to the fact that the expectation is turned into nothing. schopenhauers definition of laughter mentions “inc

36、ongruity” explicitly: “the cause of laughter in every case is simply the sudden perception of the incongruity between a concept and the real objects which have been thought through it in some relation, and laughter itself is just the expression of this incongruity” (ibid.). ii. the violation of coop

37、erative principle and the humor of mark twain grice portrays humor as violation of his so-called “conversational maxims.” the maxim represents rules for logical, expeditious talk, which speakers act as if they were following. they consist in rules like being truthful, being informative, being releva

38、nt, and being perspicuous. apparent violations lead listeners to search for an interpretation in line with the overarching “cooperative principle.” grice sees humor as pretending and expecting the pretense to be recognized, in general, humor means violation. (grice, 1975)a. humor created by violatin

39、g maxim of qualitythe maxim of quality: “do not say what you believe to be false. do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.” this maxim states that ones utterance should be truthful. “you violate the quality maxim when you deliberately lie or communicate in a way that does not reflect an

40、 honest intention.” (grice, 1975)with examples selected from the adventures of huckleberry finn, let us explain how violating the maxim of quality produces humor from two factors.1. saying what you believe to be falsethrough saying what you believe false, humor can be realized. consider the followin

41、g examples:(1) he took up a little blue and yaller picture of some cows and a boy, and say: “whats this?”“its something they give me for learning my lessons good.”he tore it up, and says:“ill give you something betterill give you a cowhide.” (mark twain: 27-4) in this dialogue, this picture, for huc

42、ks father, is just a piece of color paper with a cow and a boy, and no more information can be got from it. huck, absolutely knows this picture clearly while being asked by his father “whats this?”, however, he says, “it is something they give me for learning my lessons good.” is it true? according

43、to the sentences said by huck in chapter 4: “i had been to school most all the time and could spell and read and write just a little, and could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five, and i dont reckon i could ever get any further than if i was to live forever. i dont take

44、 no stock in mathematics, anyway.” (ibid: 20-1) readers can easily find that huck deliberately violates maxim of quality by saying dishonest words. what is more, an inharmonious situation is generated by hucks untrue remarks exactly because of this violation, namely, when reading this example, they

45、probably expect that huck is a diligent and intelligent boy, while examining the true situation from context, they arrive at a conclusion that huck dislikes studying, even can not recite multiplication table. all of sudden, their expectations are turned into nothing, and they can not help laughing a

46、t hucks mischief. consider the following example occurred between huck and his father:(2) “dont give me none o your lip,” says he. “”youve put on considerable many frills since i been away. ill take you down a peg before i get down with you. youre educated, too, they saycan read and write. you think

47、 youre bettern your father, now, dont you, because he cant? ill take it out of you. who told you you might meddle with such hifaultn foolishness, hey?who told you you could?”“the widow. she told me.” (ibid: 26-3)based on above example, hucks father is too dissatisfied to hucks behavior and the way h

48、uck treats him to control his emotion, thus he wants to find another way to show his dissatisfaction and angry to his son. every time when he has no money to buy wine, he always attempts his best to seek huck to get a little money from his son for he knows that huck has found about 6000 dollars in a

49、 cave of robber. on the contrary, huck also understands the purpose of his father every time when he comes to “educate” him. as for hucks reply, it seems that huck follows the maxim of quality, by contrast, it is a sort of violation for hucks answer is just a tool protected him from being hurt by hi

50、s father. meanwhile, just because of the violation, a sort of inharmonious situation is created. on the one hand, when reading this example, readers probably consider that huck tries his best to cooperate with his father, even if he is often mistreated by that man. on the other hand, when they furth

51、er check the information concerning this example, they will be able to understand the real aim of huck too. suddenly, their expectations are transformed into soothing, and humor is to be produced by the incongruous situation. let us focus on an example occurred between jim and huck.(3) “why, how lon

52、g have you been on the island, jim?”“i come heah de night arter yous killed.”“well, you must be most starved, aint you?”“i reckn i could eat a hoss. i think i could. how long you ben on de island?”“since the night i got killed.” (ibid: 56-6) the last words of the dialogue will be sure to give us a b

53、ig surprise. if a man were killed, how he would say some words out of his mouth, even have a dialogue with others, is it a hucks ghost? in fact, it is a joke that huck makes so as to show his excitement and surprise after meeting jim in jacksons island. since that day when he has fled from his fathe

54、r, nearly every villager conceives that he has been killed by robbers, for huck has made a clever scheme to conceal the truth of the whole thing. after arriving jacksons island, he is very afraid to be found by others, especially by his father, and then when catching a glimpse of jim, he knows that

55、no risk is around him so that such illogical words are uttered from his mouth. as for readers, they can have an expectation on reading this example that what would happen about huck, and why does he say he has been on the island since the night he is killed? with the development of the dialogue, the

56、y realize that it is just a joke made by huck to show his excitement and surprise. accordingly, their expectation is suddenly transformed into soothing, and a comfortable smile will be appeared on their face.now let us go to a short paragraph said by huck when he has got a lot of good things from a

57、boat.(4) “now you think its bad luck; but what did you say when i fetched in the snake-skin that i found on the top of the ridge day before yesterday? you said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snake-skin with my hands. well, heres your bad luck! weve raked in all this truck and eigh

58、t dollars besides. i wish we could have some bad luck like this everyday, jim.” (ibid: 70)there huck deliberately violates the maxim of quality to make a joke with jim when he says that he wish he could have some bad lucks every day, for jim once said that it was so terrible for huck to touch snake-skin with hands. nevertheless, they have made a big fortune one day when floating down to next village. in general, it is impossible and inappropriate for us to say that we wish