A Comparative Analysis Of Verbal Humor In Chinese And American Sitcoms From The Perspective Of Cooperative Principle And Politeness Principle

In recent years,sitcoms have become more and more popular because they are humorous and close to life.With the deepening of the reform and opening up,American sitcoms also occupy a position in Chinese market.Though the cultural background of the sitcoms in two countries is different,they merge and develop continuously in mutual communication.The popularity of sitcoms is largely attributed to its humorous language style.Humor is the flavoring of life and makes people feel relaxed and happy.Therefore,verbal humor in sitcoms has attracted many scholars’ attention.The Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle are the principles people tend to follow in their daily communication.They are also important theories in humor analysis.The violation of the Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle often conveys deeper meanings and can produce surprisingly humorous effect.However,there are few studies which make a comparative analysis of Chinese and American sitcoms from the perspective of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle.The studies are even less which apply these two principles to make longitudinal analysis of the development of Chinese and American sitcoms.In this thesis,the author does a case study of Home with Kids and Good Luck Charlie and chooses ten episodes from each of the three seasons of the two sitcoms as corpus.Based on the Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle,the author does a qualitative analysis of the humor in two sitcoms.She also does a quantitative analysis of the violation of the two principles in two sitcoms to study the similarities and differences of humor generation in Chinese and American sitcoms and the developments of humor.According to the research,the Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle are important in humor generation and explanation.Meanwhile,in Chinese and American sitcoms,there are more similarities than differences in humor generation,This provides the theoretical basis for the spreading of Chinese sitcoms abroad.Chinese and American sitcoms have mutually integrated and influenced in their development,which is in line with the situation of cultural cooperation and enriches the connotation of humor.