英语专业毕业论文_中西方幽默差异
不了情简谱-
黄山学院毕业论文
黑体初号
题目：
The Differences between
Chinese and English Humor and the
Reasons from a Cross-cultural
Perspective
学生姓名：＿＿＿＿
------
＿＿＿＿
系
别：＿＿＿外国语学院＿＿＿
专
业：＿＿＿＿英语＿＿＿＿＿
学
号：＿＿＿
2
＿＿＿
班
级：＿＿＿
08
英本
3
班＿＿＿
指导老师：＿＿＿＿
＿＿＿＿＿
二○一二年四月
Acknowledgements
First of
all, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Li
Yu , my supervisor, for all
the time
and energy he has put into training me as a
student of English when I studied at
Huangshan University. Without his
painstaking supervision and help, this thesis
could
never have been finished.
The
faculty
is
knowledgeable
and
rigorous
towards
research
and
tireless
in
teaching.
They
have
influenced
me
a
lot
and
helped
me
not
only
establish
academic
goals,
grasp
basic
research
methods
but
also
learn
how
to
communicate
with
others.
Here I want to
express my great respect and sincere thanks to
them.
I am also grateful to my
classmates at foreign language department at our
college.
i
Abstract
Humor
plays
a
significant
role
in
people
‟
s
daily
life.
It
can
make
us
happy
and
relive
our anxiety and stress. It is just because of its
functions that humor is widely used
in
many
aspects.
However, due to
different
cultures, Chinese humor is
different
from
English humor. What is thought funny in
one country might be considered nonsense or
misunderstood
in
another
country.
Thus
we
need
to
know
the
differences
so
as
to
understand the humor
better. By using the comparative and descriptive
approaches, this
essay compares the
differences
between Chinese
and English humor and
analyses the
causes.
Researches
show
that
Chinese
humor
differs
from
English
humor
in
many
aspects
such
as
origin,
style,
content,
function,
skills
and
technique,
the
way
of
producing.
Different values, different
ways of
thinking, different ideology and culture
background all account for these
differences.
Key
Words
：
Chinese
and English humor; differences; causes
ii
摘要
幽默在人们的生活中有着非常重
要的作用。它能给人们带来欢乐，减轻忧虑
和压力。正因为幽默的重要作用，它在各方面
都被广泛应用。然而，由于不同的
文化差异，中国幽默和英语幽默存在差异。一个国家中
被认为有趣的事在另一个
国家就会被认为没有意义或者被误解。因此我们需要了解其中的
差异以便可以更
好地领悟幽默。本文比较了中西方幽默的差异并分析了原因。研究表明中
西方幽
默在源流，风格，内容，作用功效，技巧和表现手法和产生方式等方面存在差异。
不同的价值观，思维方式，意识形态和文化背景是造成这些差异的重要原因。
关键词
：
中西方幽默；
差异；原因
iii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
.
.................................................
..................................................
........ i
Abstract
.
..............................................
..................................................
............................
ii
摘要
.........................
..................................................
..................................................
....
i
ii
1.
Introduction
.
..............
..................................................
..................................................
1
1.2 Significance of the research ....
..................................................
.............................. 1
1.3
Methods
...............................
..................................................
.................................. 1
1.4 General organizations
.<
/p>
........................................
..................................................
... 2
2. Literature review
.
.......................................
..................................................
................. 2
2.1 Definitions of
humor ............................................
..................................................
. 2
2.2 The characteristics of humor ..
..................................................
............................... 3
2.3
Classification
........................
..................................................
................................. 3
3.
Differences between English and Chinese humor ....
..................................................
.. 4
3.1 Different origins of humor ...
..................................................
................................. 4
3.2
Different evaluation towards humor
.
..........................................
............................. 5
3.3
Different styles of humor in China and western
countries
.
.................
.................... 6
3.4 Different
contents of Chinese and western humor
..................................................
6
3.5 Different techniques of
expression
.
................
..................................................
....... 7
3.7 Different culture
background of Chinese and English humor
.
................................ 8
4. Causes of differences between
Chinese and English humor
........................................ 9
4.1 Different national characters .....
..................................................
............................ 9
4.2
Different ideologies and aims
.
< br>............................................... .................................. 9
4.3 Different ways of thinking ........
..................................................
.......................... 10
4.4
Different culture ................................
..................................................
.................. 11
5. Some
suggestions to understand English and Chinese
humor
.
.....................
.............. 12
5.1 Improving
cultural sensitivity .............................
..................................................
12
5.2 See things from the point of
view of others ...................................
....................... 12
5.3 One
culture‟s meat is another culture‟s
poison
................................
..................... 13
6. Conclusion
..................................................
..................................................
.............. 13
Bibliography ........
..................................................
..................................................
....... 15
The Differences between
Chinese and English Humor and the
Reasons from a Cross-cultural
Perspective
1. Introduction
Now I will give a brief introduction
about the objective, significance, methods and
organization of my research on the
Chinese and English humor.
1.1 Research objective
Humor plays an important role in our
life.
It can reduce the influence of
our bad
mood and brings happiness to
us. It is also good for our interpersonal
communication.
To
some
extent,
it
is
an
important
part
of
our
life.
Since
it
is
so
important,
many
psychologists,
linguists and anthropologists at home and abroad
have made significant
contributions to
humor studies such as , Lin Yutang, Gong Weicai ,
,
Hu Fanzhu and so on. Humor can
reflect
a
country
‟
s culture.
However, there are few
researches
about
cross-culture
humor.
It
is
interesting
and
important
to
find
out
the
differences between China and English
humor. This thesis is to find the differences in
order to better understand and
appreciate humor and avoid misunderstanding.
1.2 Significance of the research
Because the Reform and
Opening up policy, China has more communication
with
other
countries.
However,
humor
in
one
country
may
be
misunderstood
in
another
country.
So
it
is
urgent
to
do
the
study
and
find
out
the
differences.
The
economic
globalization has brought more and more
multinational corporations to China. However,
there
may
be
misunderstandings
of
humor
due
to
culture
differences.
The
current
research hopes to solve this problem.
Moreover, there is a lot of literature
on humor from the perspectives of linguistics,
philosophy,
psychologies
and
aesthetics.
Because
few
researches
are
from
a
cross-
culture perspective, this research hopes to
intrigue people‟
s interest.
1.3 Methods
In this thesis,
descriptive method is used to give you a brief
understanding about
the
definition,
classification,
characteristics
of
humor.
Comparative
approach
and
1
explanation
are
used
to
compare
the
differences
between
Chinese
and
English
humor
and
explain
the
causes.
Other
methods
such
as
summing
up
experience
and
reading
documents for
reference are also used.
1.4 General
organizations
This
paper
is
made
up
of
six
parts.
Part
One
is
the
brief
introduction
about
the
objective,
significances, methods and the general
organization of this study. Part Two is
a
brief
survey
concerning
the
definition,
classification,
characteristics
of
humor.
Part
Three
summarizes
the
differences
between
Chinese
and
English
humor.
Part
four
explains several aspects that cause
these differences. Part Five gives some
suggestions
on how to understand cross-
culture humor and enhance our cultural
sensibility. The last
part is a summary
for the whole thesis.
2. Literature
review
It
is
necessary
to
have
some
basic
knowledge
of
humor
before
we
discuss
and
compare Chinese and English humor. This
chapter will make a brief survey on humor
about its definitions, classifications
and characteristics. Then this essay will do a
further
survey
to
compare
the
differences
between
Chinese
and
English
humor
from
a
cross-
cultural perspective.
2.1 Definitions
of humor
Humor
is
always
used
in
our
daily
life,
but
few
people
can
give
a
satisfactory
answer of such
questions
like “what
is
humor? ”
or
“
what is the definition of
humor?
”
.
So first a brief survey will be made on
the definition of humor.
According to
the online Longman English dictionary, the
definition is like this.
a.
the ability or tendency to think that
things are funny, or funny things you say
that show you have this ability
b. the quality in something that makes
it funny and makes people laugh
Humor
is,
according
to
ancient
theory,
any
of
four
bodily
fluids
that
determine
human
health
and
temperament.
Hippocrates
postulated
that
an
imbalance
among
the
humors
(blood, phlegm,
yellow bile, and black
bile) resulted in pain and disease, and
that good health was achieved through a
balance of the four humors; he suggested that
2
the glands had a controlling effect on
this balance.
The English word humour
derived from the Latin word humor. Originally, it
is a
medical term, meaning liquid which
controls human health and emotion. Humor is the
tendency
of
particular
cognitive
experiences
to
provoke
laughter
and
provide
amusement.
2.2 The
characteristics of humor
While it is
clear that “sense of humor” varies widely among
individuals and groups,
it is the
presence of one or more of the universal
characteristics of humor that makes
events
more
likely
to
be
perceived
as
funny
by
the
observer.
Among
the
universal
characteristics
that
may
produce
a
humorous
response
are
the
experiences
of:
incongruity,
absurdity,
ludicrousness,
or
ridiculousness,
an
unexpected
future,
a
pleasant surprise, being
startled, and emotional chaos remembered in
tranquility.
2.3
Classification
Just like
the definition of humor, the classification is
also various.
Here are some
classifications by different scholars.
Bergson holds that based on comic
effects, humor can be divided into expressed
humor
and
created
humor.
While
according
to
Koestler,
there
are
verbal
humor
and
situational
humor
on the basis of the
expressions of the text.
Tan Daren
believes that
documentary humor
(anecdotes of famous persons) differs from make-up
humor(humor
created
by
a
humorist
‟
s
imagination).(a
comparative
study
of
Chinese
and
English
advertisement humor from a cross-
cultural communication)
What is
interesting is that humor can be divided into
different colors. White humor
is
like
pure
paper
triggered
by
naive
children.
Black
humor,
in
literature,
drama,
and
film, grotesque or
morbid humor is used to express the absurdity,
insensitivity, paradox,
and cruelty of
the modern world. Pink humor is related to the
amorous feelings between
men and women.
Gray humor triggers shallow and vulgar laughter,
reflecting people
‟
s
dissatisfaction and resentment towards
society. Yellow humor is related to sex.
Humor can be classified into Gallows
humor, surreal humour, Jewish humour and
vitreous
humor.
Gallows
humor
is
the
type
of
humor
that
manages
to
be
funny
in
3
response
to
a
perfectly
hopeless
situation.
It
arises
from
stressful,
traumatic,
or
life-threatening
situations,
often
in
such
circumstances
that
death
is
perceived
as
impending
and
unavoidable.
Surreal
humor
is
also
known
as
absurd
humour
or
nonsense
humour.
On
the
basis
of
violations
of
causal
reasoning
with
events
and
behaviours that are logically
incongruent, surreal humor is a form of humour
involving
bizarre
juxtapositions,
irrational
situations,
and
other
displays
and
expressions
of
nonsense.
Jewish
humour
is
the
long
tradition
of
humour
in
Judaism,
referring
to
the
more
recent
stream
of
crude,
verbal,
self-deprecating,
and
often
anecdotal
humour
originating in
Eastern Europe. The vitreous humour is the clear
gel which fills the space
between
the
lens
and
the
retina
of
the
eyeball
of
humans
and
other
vertebrates.
It
is
often referred to as the
vitreous body.
3. Differences between
English and Chinese humor
3.1 Different
origins of humor
The
English
word
humour
originated
from
the
Latin
word
humor.
In
ancient
Greece,
“
humor
”
was
a
medical
term
which
means
“
liquid
”
or
“
fluid
”
,
having
something to do
with medicine. In the fifth century B.C. the
famous scholar as well as
Doctor
Hippocrates created a theory, holding that human
body consisted of four fluids.
These
four fluids (humor) are blood, phlegm, yellow bile
and black bile. It is the variant
mixture
of
these
“
humors
”
in
different
persons
that
determined
their
physical
and
mental
qualities
as
well
as
their
dispositions.
During
the
Renaissance
period,
humor
referred
to
a
person
‟
s
mood
or
temperament
in
a
very
general
sense.
The
prominent
English
writer
Ben
Johnson
advocated
that
when
describing
a
person
we
should
put
disposition and
temperament as a priority such as the passion,
greed, sinister and so on.
His
plays
Everyman
in
His
humor
and
Everyman
out
His
Humor
first
introduced
the
concept
of
humor
in
the
field
of
art.
His
plays
are
called
comedy
of
humours.
The
meaning of humor at that time is
similar to the meaning of humor nowadays. Humor as
a literature and aesthetical term first
appeared in Britain at the end of
17
th
century. At
that time Capitalist economy was
greatly developed in Britain and made Britain home
of humanism and the home of humor. In
poetics
William first
mentioned English humor.
4
He
thought
that
due
to
Britain‟s
wealth,
freedom
and
complex
natural
environment
British people
are healthy, brave, beautiful, intelligent and
most importantly humorous.
Western
humor originated from the literary form of comedy.
Humor in our country originated from
jokes and jocularities. It manifested in folk
joke shows and ballads and so on.
Throughout the history of Chinese humor, we
can
‟
t
find
out
exactly
when
Chinese
humor
was
originated.
However,
there
were
four
upsurges
of
Chinese
humor.
The
first
period
is
the
Qin
Dynasty.
According
to
the
historical
records, it was a trend for royal court to hire
“
Pai You
”
(
people who perform
funny
sideshow
to
earn
a
living).
Humor
in
Qin
Dynasty
is
not
an
accidental
phenomenon.
Humor
appeared
on
the
basis
of
the
rise
of
atheism,
the
increasingly
awakening
of
people
‟
s
consciousness,
individual
liberty
and
the
competition
among
different schools of thoughts. During
Wei and Jin Dynasty period, the political
situation
was unsteady and Feudal moral
is challenged to a large extent. If Spring and
Autumn
and the Warring States Period
was the first period of great awakening, then the
Wei and
Jin Dynasty was the second
awakening period of thoughts, which was
characterized by
rebelling
the
feudal
moral.
In
Ming
Dynasty
the
social
atmosphere
changed
a
lot
because of
the development of commodity economy. Once humor
gets rid of the bond
of feudal moral,
it will get a new chance to develop. According to
records, from the Wei
Dynasty
to
Qing
Dynasty,
there
were
98
people
who
edited
jokes.
In
the
fictions
of
Qing
Dynasty, there were characters like Sun Wukong,
Zhu Bajie, Li Kui, Ji Gong. In
opera,
legends and poetry, there were also humorous
examples. The Xinhai Revolution
put
an
end
to
feudalism
which
constrained
personality
development.
May
Fourth
Movement
advocated
to
pursue
science
and
technology
and
freedom,
democracy
and
beauty
that
promoted
the
development
of
humor.
During
this
period,
humor
was
manifested in various kinds of art.
Essays about humor and irony, crosstalk and comic
came into being. The concepts and
theory of western humor were introduced to China.
The humor masters Lu Xun, Qian Zhongshu
and Lao She turned up that symbolized the
new peak of Chinese humor.
3.2 Different evaluation towards humor
5