2. 2 The pragmatic analysis on the features of English humor
English humor is carried by English language. It is a manifesting form of the language and the culture. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze how the language and culture influence the humor. In this section, we will mainly discussion the language features and culture features of English humor form the view of pragmatics.
2.2.1 Language features
In English language, people usually employ some rhetorical devices to create humorous effect. In this section, author will focus on the humor using figures of speech and syntactic devices.
2.2.1.1 Using figures of speech
In English humor, it's popular to use figures of speech like irony, hyperbole, metaphor and pun ect. These figures of speech contribute to create humorous effects. Hearers have to calculate what the speakers say but not simply understand from literal meaning of the utterances. The utterances afford for more thought, thus when the real meaning is realized, humorous effects are created. In the following passage, some analysis will be given by sharing some humors using figures of speech. Now, let’s begin with some examples:
(14) Lawyer: “When I was a boy my highest ambition was to be a pirate.”
Client: “You’re in luck. It isn’t every man who can realize the dreams of his youth.” [10]
Perhaps we are confused at first after we read the conversation, but when we think again, we soon get the implicature of the client. It seems that the client is praising the lawyer, but actually he is being critical and shows his dissatisfaction to the lawyer. In western countries, it’s widely known that lawyers always ask much more money from clients than they really should, and this kind of act is looked as no difference from extortion and robbery. So the client really means what the lawyer does now is the same as what a pirate does. People can’t help laughing from the client’s witty and profound use of irony.
(15) My wife was so fat she got stuck in the Holland Tunnel.
(16)He was so short that he had to stand on tiptoes to kiss a duck’s derriere.
Example (15) and (16) are of the same form of hyperbole, and are very popular in our daily life. Both of them overstate some quality of the third person to make their description more impressive and humorous. Of course hearers will not simply believe these statements, but no doubt they will be amused and impressed, and the conversation is going to be more interesting as well.
(17) “My uncle gets a warm reception wherever he goes.”
“He must be very popular.”
“No, he’s a fireman”.
In Example (17), the speaker compares “fire” to “warm reception”, and obviously he deliberately flouts the maxim of quality for not speaking sincerely, to make fun. That’s why the hearer misunderstands it and incongruity between the expectation and the result occurs.
(18)Q: What four letters of the alphabet would scare off a burglar?
A: O, ICU.
In (18), “O, ICU” sounds like “oh, I see you”. When a burglar hears this, surely he will be greatly scared. There are many similar examples of this usage in English. Take another example, opticians use “OIC” to make advertisements for their glasses not only the pronunciation is very similar to “Oh, I see”, but also the shape of the three letters together looks like a glass. The ingenious employment of these paronomasia puns easily achieves a sense of humor. Moreover, it shows originality of our humankind.
2.2.1.2 Adopting syntactic devices
In English language, adopting the syntactic devices is also a good way to create humor. The most popular syntactic device to create humor effect is the rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question implies that the answer is obvious. This kind of question does not need actually to be answered and is a way to make a point. In another word, it is a question asked without expecting an answer but for the sake of emphasis. Since it is “ask while knowing the answer”, rhetorical questions are often used for comic effects, which also deviates the first sub-maxim of quality because the addresser doesn’t truly ask.
(19)Just after school started, I was asked by my daughter’s teacher to write a note describing my child. Soon I had a letter composed explaining how wonderful she was. I read my comments to my husband for his opinion. When I finished, he said: “Sounds good. When do we get this daughter?”
Perhaps it’s not so easy to catch the implicature of what the husband says. But when one thinks again, he realizes that the father doesn’t agree with the mother’s description of their daughter. Thus his joking question “when do we get this daughter” indicates that “we haven’t ever such a great child”. Imagine that this father must be tortured by their naughty girl, how could people hold back not to laugh?
2.2.2 Cultural features
In communication, there is a vital factor that restricts the use of language---the cultural factor. Cultural differences in pragmatics may influence the intercultural communication. As we know, humorous expressions usually via the language. As a result, humor also contains the cultural features, and every humorous utterance has its cultural identity. And this would forcefully interpret why when we read some English humor, we might find that it is not so fun as those foreign people thinks. That is because some English jokes contain much cultural background information-shared cultural knowledge and other cultural elements. So it is really hard for foreign readers to appreciate them. We can see it in the following examples:
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