A Study Of The Pragmatic Presupposition In American Sitcom The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular TV series of American sitcoms. It becomes fashionable for a time by means of its unique form and humorous language which is also very popular and pursued by fans in China. Different areas of scholars launch the research on the American sitcoms due to its unique form, fashion scene, rich and colorful language and so on. So far, the research from the linguistics perspective is not enough.This paper pays much attention to the language in American sitcom in terms of the pragmatic presupposition. First, the previous study about presupposition theory has been reviewed. And then, the relationship between the properties and functions of the pragmatic presupposition is emphatically analyzed, which discovered that the properties of pragmatic presupposition could generate corresponding functions in certain context of the communication. The properties of the pragmatic presupposition can be classified into five kinds:appropriateness property, mutual knowledge property, subjectivity property, latency-property and defeasibility property. In corresponding, the functions generated are:information accuracy function, persuasion function, emphasizing information function, coherence function and being humorous function.First, the appropriateness property of presupposition could be reflected from utterance, circumstance and background information. Since it is appropriate information, the presupposed information could generate accurate function of expression. Second, mutual knowledge property of presupposition could be on the condition of the knowledge shared by all the people, the knowledge suggested by the speaker and realized by the listener; and the common information just known between the speaker and the listener in a special utterance. Since it is mutual for the speaker and the listener, the presupposed information could generate the persuasive function and it will be persuasive for the listener to understand the speaker’s idea easily. Third, the subjectivity property of presupposition can help the speaker to lead others to accept his ideas or introduce something to reach his goal. As a result that the utterance is expressed subjectively, the presupposed information could generate the emphasizing information function. Forth, the latency information presupposition can be the information mentioned before, the mutual knowledge information and the information which could reach the speaker’s purpose, so the speaker wants to latent it on purpose. Since it is latent, there is no need for the speaker and the listener to mention the information again and the utterance can be coherent in communication. Last, the defeated presupposition can be reflected from two kinds of factors:the linguistic factor and the non-linguistic factor. The presupposed information is defeated by the linguistic and non-linguistic factors, the result will be absurd, funny or surprising, so the humorous function is generated. It is often used by people in daily life communication, so the pragmatic presupposition phenomenon plays a key role in mutual understanding and mutual communication.This paper focuses on the dialogues in the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory as the research data. After the research of collection, classification and the analyzing of the data in American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, the theoretical assumption is expected to have been confirmed finally. It is good for people to have a better understand and communication with each other in daily life and hopes to make a contribution to the linguistic field.