1。2。1 Conventional Theories of Humor

Although there are many kinds of concepts about humor, many scholars are still interested in the research, because humor plays an important role in our daily life。 Since the essence of humor and the final intention of humor are various that makes the research have different perspective。 Generally, one traditional classification accepted by more people include the incongruity theory, the superiority theory and the release theory (Attardo, 1994:47)。

The incongruity theory is an approach to the study of humor which is very influential and universal。 This theory does the research on humor from a cognitive view。 They think that two or more conflicting, improper, or inconsistent parts will make people laugh。 The superiority theory considers that humor can make people feel superior to these people who are described as incapable, foolish, deformed and so forth。 With the development of the psychoanalysis, the relief theory has been given important power。 "Psychoanalytic theory explains humor as a function of repression about unresolved childhood traumas and the Oedipus complex; consequently humor usually serves as a release of tension which results from sexual or aggressive urges"(徐立新，2003:27)。These three established types of theories are based on different sides of the motivation of humor。 But none of them is absolutely enough in itself。 文献综述

1。2。2 Modern Linguistic Theories of Humor

In this part, we will pay attention to the modern linguistic theories on verbal humor。 Based on Raskin (1985), when we deal firstly with examples of verbal humor, the translational theories didn’t show any important discernment on the linguistics of humor。 As everyone knows, throughout the thousand years, philosophers, psychologists or literary critics always take care of the humor。 Until the 1980s, linguists started to look into this field, they did the research from many aspects, like semantic, syntactic and pragmatic and so on, which make great contribution to the research on humor。 

In these linguistic researches on humor, it seems that people tend to use the semantic ways, which are based on the linguistic form of the humorous style。 Recently, many researches have given suitable attention to the social factors, particularly in pragmatic-oriented studies of humor。 But they failed to bring the social dimension to the real linguistic study of humor。 These reviews before has distinctly tell us that many scholars have analyzed humor from perse aspects, chasing different aims and using different hypothesis。 In this thesis, we used the pragmatic theories to analyze verbal humor in sitcom, which is different from the past study。 These theories, particularly the pragmatic theories which developed recently, should be used closely to verbal humor study。 So, we are prepared to generalize the pragmatic theories, to look back some of the important concepts in them and look out how these pragmatic theories may behave when we do the research on humor。

2。 An overview of American Sitcom Friends

Sitcoms, called situation comedies, was growing up in 1920s on American broadcasting。 In 1947, the first genuine Marry Kay and Johnny, television aced。 At that time, its former film title generated significant influence。 From 1950s the television sitcoms had always been popular television programs in the West。 The Friends was one of the most famous sitcom。 Since 1990s, the Friend was broadly broadcast in the National Broadcasting Company, which has ten seasons completely。 In the West it is still a popular sitcom, the audience of the sitcom always rushed in the top of the list。 Since many people love this sitcom, once it had been the prime show of NBC。 At the same time, it also won the Emmys and its nominations for many times。来;自]优Y尔E论L文W网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

This sitcom Friends chiefly describes the story among six different people。 They have different characters, everyone has their own struggles, happiness, suffering, and thrills in their life。 They are respectively Rachel Karen Green, Ross Eustace Geller, and Monica Erin Geller-Bing, chandler Muriel Bing, Phoebe Buffay Hannigan and Joey Tribbiani。 Rachel Monica is a high schooler, who has no experience。 She could not even dump wastes。 She always has no ideas about her life, so she always just follows other's suggestion。 When she finds that she loves the wedding handsets, not her own husband, she just escapes from the wedding。 She never has a steady job。 Finally with the help of the other people, she eventually summons the courage to confront the poverty-striken situation, no more using her father’s credit card。 Ross is an archaeologist and university lecturer。 He is Monica's elder brother, in high school he was always crushed by Rachel。 However he never dares to confess during the school time。 He has a little prim, and he always can not confess others or break the rule。 Since his wife is a lesbian, he break a marriage with his wife, but he loves his son very much。 Sometimes he is so timid that he dares not express his emotion。 And he also has no confidence。 Just for all of these reasons he loses his marriage。 Monica is a chef in the most captivating restaurant which is located in downtown。 In this comedy, she plays an important role as the central person。 She often takes care of the others, just like their mother。 To some extent she is the backbone of these stories, the other people are just extended from her。 Whether in her work or her life, she always takes them seriously and well-planned。 She always has the persevering spirit。 Chandler is the college student of Ross, so for a long time he is familiar with Monica and Ross。 He has a little jittery。 He often loves to play jokes with others。 He works in a very big company。 The boss of that company thinks highly of him。 However he just wants to be a humorist。 So he always plays jokes with his girlfriend。 All of these characters make him be the last married one among the six people。 Phoebe is once Monica's roommate。 But because of Monica's mysophobia she moves out。 She is a positive person。 However she does not focus on the routine affairs in life。 Sometimes she is always a little absurd, says some irrelevant words。 But among these six people she is the objective and rational one。 In her spare time she loves singing。 In her view, she always see people in good angles。 She often loves people no different。 Joey lives with Chandler, and he is also the neighbor of Monica and Rachel。 He often do things with simple mind, just like a playboy。 He is not mature。 Though, he once had a lot of girlfriends, his true love never comes。 He is an Italian-American。 But he have no specific requirement in educational level。 In his spare time he does a lot of part-time jobs。 But he did not have the stable income。 With Friends has been turned into Chinese, we could see it in film or television show。 Friends gives us a fresh experience for Chinese audiences, which has attracted many Chinese fans。