Presuppositions in Chinese Jokes:A case Study of "Xiao Lin Guang Ji"

• Main Authors: Viob Tsui-Lien Lee, 李翠蓮
• Other Authors: Shulun Wei
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1995
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/50832518217053335098

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 語言學系 === 83 === The phenomen of jokes has long been a topic of investigation in academic fields. However, only few studies take a linguistic point of view. Raskin's Semantic Mechanisms of Humor is an attemp to account for jokes with a semantic theory.　In the present paper, I would try to discuss Dolitsky's suggestion of presupposition to analyze the functions of presuppositions in jokes. A hypothesis is therefore proposed and examplified with a Chinese joke book『Xiao Lin Guang Ji』. This hypothesis would stipulate that jokes are consisted of two parts: the descriptive lines and the punch line, and presuppostions, by way of transmitting information indirectly, have different functions in each part in order to reach fuuny effect. After the examination of the hypothesis with almost one hundred jokes, this hypothesis is justified as: when presuppositions are part of the descriptive lines, they function to transmit background information of the jokes; and when presuppositions exist in the punch line, they can tell an unexpected truth and overrule the normal inferences. The thesis contains seven chapters and one of them is a self evaluation of methodology and analyses.