An Analysis of Verbal Humor from a Perspective of Linguistic Deviation: A Case Study of Joey Tribianni’s Utterances in Sitcom Friends文献综述

 2022-08-11 15:27:58

  1. Literature Review
    1. Key Definitions
      1. Lexical Deviation

Lexical deviation is relative to conventional semantics. Cognitive semantic theory considers the lexicon as a linguistic unit, a cognitive convention that is fixed in the brain of the language user. The meaning associated with this conceptual system is the conventional meaning (Laguacker, 1987). However, in the specific context of communication, the original linguistic entity and its associated conceptual system are integrated by the user to produce new meanings, i.e., non-conventional meanings, as the contextual elements change. The interpretation of lexical deviation cannot rely solely on established cognitive conventions. The study of lexical deviation is an attempt to explore the categories, causes, and patterns of conventional semantic deviation, as well as the cognitive processes and rationale for understanding the novel meanings generated by the phenomenon of semantic deviation, in the context of actual speech communication.

      1. Verbal Humor

Humor is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humors (Latin: humor, “body fluid”), controlled human health and emotion. The term moved from the realm of physiology into the realm of life in the 16th century and was used to refer to human “disposition” and “temperam ent” in general. In the late 17th century, it came to have a modern conceptual meaning in aesthetics, referring specifically to “the characteristics of behavior, speech, and writing that amuse as well as the ability to appreciate and express these characteristics” (Gu Ling, 2000). The Dictionary of Aesthetics defines humor as “the use of witty, funny, and concise language to expose, criticize, ridicule, and laugh at things or phenomena that are perverse, unreasonable, or contradictory in social life by means of metaphor, exaggeration, symbolism, allegory, punning, and harmony, etc., so that people can deny these things or phenomena in a relaxed and smiling manner. It is ironic, but it is not a joke. It has a sense of irony, but is not ironic and sharp, a kind of criticism with a smile.” This definition indicates that humor can only be expressed through certain rhetorical techniques.

From a macro perspective, humor can be divided into situational humor and verbal humor. Verbal humor is the one realized mainly through language, both spoken and written. Therefore, verbal humor mentioned and analyzed in this paper mainly refers to the utterances of a character.

    1. Related Studies on Lexical Deviation at Home and Abroad

The literature on the lexical deviation at home and abroad is mostly studied from the perspective of semantic categories and features, which has already formed a relatively mature view. G. N. Leech (1969) classified linguistic deviation into eight categories, namely phonological deviation, lexical deviation, grammatical deviation, semantic deviation, graphological deviation, deviation of register, dialectical deviation, and deviation of historical period. However, Leech only depicted the linguistic deviation. Later, functional grammarians, represented by Halliday Hassan (1976), discussed more about the linguistic deviation. They argued that linguistic features can be summarized into three factors, i.e., field, tenor, and mode; the linguistic deviation is exactly the deviation of these three factors. This made the perspective of lexical deviation research not only limited to changes in lexical morphology.

Studies on lexical deviation focus on the classifications of deviation phenomenon at both home and abroad. For instance, Chen Yuan (1983) summarized four types of lexical deviations, i.e., neologism, functional conversion; semantic narrowing; transliteration of exotic words. Masanori Miyata (1981) discussed three types of deviation in her paper, i.e., neologism, malapropism, colloquialism and vulgarism. After collation, it is found that although the scholars at home and abroad have different classifications of lexical deviation, they can be roughly divided into three categories: morphological deviation, semantic transformation, and stylistic conversion.

To commence with, the morphological deviation is mainly reflected in new items of vocabulary due to special contexts. Making up a word which did not previously exist, is called neologism (Short,1969:45). An example of neologism or the invention of new words is nonce-formation. A word is considered to be a nonce-formation if it is made up for the nonce, i.e. for a single occasion (Leech,1969:42). Bauer (1983:45) defines a nonce-formation as a new complex word coined by a speaker or a writer on the spur of the moment to cover some immediate need. Whereas Crystal (1987:260) defines nonce-formation as a linguistic form which a speaker consciously invents or accidentally uses on a single occasion, many factors account for their uses. A speaker, for instance, cannot remember a particular word so he coins an alternative approximation, or is constrained by circumstances to produce a new form. Moreover, compounding is another way of constructing new words. New compound words are usually made by the process of combining two or more lexical items with hyphen, which are vivid, descriptive and transparent.

As for the semantic transformation, it is mainly achieved by conversion. Conversion is generally defined as a word-formation process whereby a word of a certain word class is shifted into another class without the addition of an affix, or more scientifically termed as “derivation by zero suffix”. Converted words do not technically add new words to the lexicon of English, but they can extend the semantic range of existing words by changing their grammatical functions.

Some words imply the application of a certain communicative purpose, content, occasion, scope and stylistic features, which is called the stylistic color of words. The stylistic deviation refers to the change in the form of spoken or written language due to different external factors such as situation, topic, addressee and location. Therefore, communicative contexts become the focus of stylistic deviation. Finegan and Biber (1994) tend to favor the functional theory that social dialectal variation depends on register deviation, which in turn depends on the communicative statutes associated with various communicative contexts. Their central idea is about the context, and they try to establish the relationship between stylistic deviation and context. Besides, Coupland links stylistic deviation to the speakerrsquo;s individual personality profile, emphasizing the speakers subjectivity. In addition, Rickford and McNair-Knox (1994:263-5) and J. Rickford and R. Rickford (2000:128) argue that stylistic deviation is crucial for speakers behavior in expressing social emotion and identity. Eckert (2000) also identifies the role of deviation in constructing individual or group style.

    1. The Generating Mechanism of Verbal Humor

Humor relies on incongruity because we can find some degree of absurdity, illogic, or violation of expectation at the essential part of any joke (Wang Dajin and Wang Qian, 2007). It is a multidimensional and interdisciplinary concept and has been studied by many scholars from semantic (Attardo 1994; Raskin 1985), pragmatic (Yus 2003; Kotthoff 2006; Liu Naishi and Xiong Xueliang 2003; He Wenzhong 2003), rhetorical perspective (Wicker, 1985) and so on. All of these studies give a theoretical basis for the construction of humor theory. Among them, theories addressing semantics and rhetoric are more frequently applied in the analysis of humorous texts.

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