Political Humor In Satirical Sitcom Yes Minister From The Perspective Of The Cooperative Principle

Yes Minister is a satirical sitcom which produced by broadcasting British corporation.All kinds of conflicts between administrative minister Jim Hacker who is on behalf of the politicians and Humphrey Appleby who represents civil servants,the thoughtful political humor provides a corpus of this study.This paper studies the following two questions: Firstly,in terms of the perspective of violation four maxims of the cooperative principle,what are the characteristics of political humor in satirical sitcom Yes Minister? Secondly,how did political humor in satirical sitcom Yes Minister created by violating the cooperative principle? This paper uses qualitative and quantitative research methods.Quantitative research is mainly used to see the distribution of political humor in this sitcom which violating four maxims of the cooperative principle,and then analyzes its characteristics;Qualitative research is mainly used for the classification of political humor which is created by violating four maxims of the cooperative principle and further analyze the generation of those humor.In this paper,on the basis of the standard of laughing track from the audience,the typical dialogues in the first season is selected as the research object.After data collection and analysis,the conclusions are as follows: The sitcom Yes Minister mainly uses irony,metaphor and other rhetorical devices to express political humor by violating the maxim of quality from the perspective of the cooperative principle.Meanwhile,the generation of political humor is explored through the further analysis of the typical corpus.Finally,the author further examines the implications of political humor to English learning.Sitcom concludes rich knowledge and a broad overview of English language culture,and reflects the corresponding social and cultural values.Through the analysis of the conversation in this sitcom,comprehension of exquisite British political humor has been further deepened.Meanwhile,this study can improve learners’ understanding of English language and its application in the real context.