A Pragmatic Analysis Of English Puns From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Being a universally accepted linguistic phenomenon, English puns play anindispensably crucial part in linguistics as well as in people’s daily routines. Pun hasbeen widely used in any given era or in any culture. In the modern world that has beencivilized, the interpersonal and cross-cultural interaction without the application ofpuns is unimaginable.Pun is regarded as a result of making choices and adaptation so as to realizecertain specific goals. Those utterers select puns as the most proper way by means ofadapting to the context-oriented elements. The present study zeros in on the notion thatpun use is the product of adapting to language users, to the physical world, to the socialworld, and to the mental world of the utterer and the interpreter. Since contextsconstantly change, the use of puns in a static way does not realize the aim of dailycommunication. This paper casts light on the adaptation process that happens in puns.And the contextual correlates of adaptability are dynamic. Through revealing theconnections between the degree of salience and linguistic choices, the present researcharrives at a conclusion that people’s willingness of exploiting puns and the types ofpuns are greatly affected by their degree of salience. The utterer’s and the interpreter’sdistinct levels of salience are bound to exert an impact on the successful utilization ofpuns.The present research explores puns and at the same time, provides a host of casesin people’s daily life and literary works. A conclusion is thus made that the process ofappropriately using puns is essentially a non-stop process of making linguistic choices.The adaptation process is of dynamic nature and the language users’ degree of salience(the utterer and the interpreter) is prevailing. The present research demonstrates thatthe Theory of Linguistic Adaptation developed by Verschueren offers a soundtheoretical framework for a proper interpretation of puns, and that the approach basedon adaptation will decrease pragmatic errors and guarantee a successful communication. The author of the thesis hopes that the findings of the present studycan be applied to foreign language teaching and learning in the forthcoming years.