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A Comparative Analysis Between English and Chinese Humorous Jokes 专业学生姓名指导教师

本题目研究的现状The study of humor is extensive and enormous on humanities. From the ancient times to recent years, philosophers, literary critics, psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists in and outside China have made significant contributions to the subject. S. Freud in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious suggests a basic resemblance between jokes and dreams.

A. A. Berger in An Anatomy of Humor introduces some important theories on humor. M. L. Apte in Humor and Laughter—an Anthropological Approach and A. Ziv in National Styles of Humor mainly tells us something about cross—cultural humor. After Lin Yutang translated “humor” into Chinese “幽默” in 1932, ther e emerged lots of works about humor. Such as Linguistics of Humor by Hu Fanzhu, Humor and Verbal Humor by Tan Daren, A Study on Humorous Discourse by Xu Lixin, An Appreciation of English Humorous Language by Mao Ronggui and so forth.

学术价值和现实意义Humor is expressed by language. So language is to humor what water is to fish. To some extent, we can say the humor research is humorous language research. Humor plays very significant roles in many aspects of life. It helps to oil interpersonal relationships, reduce the friction between people and smooth conflicts. It can help people shrug off all likely predicaments, break the stress environment. It can lighten the atmosphere and shorten the distance between the speaker and the listener. Humor also helps to reduce physical and psychological pain, helps people recover from a disease more quickly. And humor, by making fun of the serious or unhappy issues or topics, endows us with a sense of freedom, mastery and self-respect. A sense of humor helps one avoid becoming overwhelmed; acquire confidence and strength, so that a good psychological condition follows. What’s more, through the studies of humor or humorous language from linguistic perspective, people can acquire a good technology of creating humor, even bocome a humorist himself. Also it helps readers to know the language better. And the development of linguistics calls for fresh analysis that absorb latest achievements into humor research.

论文提纲ⅠIntroduction

ⅡAn Overview of Humor

2.1 Definitions of Humor

2.2 Classifications of Humor

2.3 Functions of Humor

ⅢComparison between English and Chinese Humorous Jokes..

3.1Humorous Jokes Created by Phonological Devices

3.1.1 Dialect-based Humor

3.1.2 Phonological Ambiguity

3.2Humorous Jokes Created by Lexical Devices

3.2.1 Word Structure vs. Character Structure

3.2.2 Lexical Ambiguity