Abstract: Humor is an important part of all human cultures and languages, which is a natural phenomenon in the process of language use, and also a common phenomenon in human communication. It plays an important role in a variety of languages and cultures. This paper attempts to analyze the humorous utterances in the Sherlock from the perspective of cognitive pragmatics based on Relevance Theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson. It mainly focuses on the aspect of Ostensive-inferential Model, relevance principle and context point of views to reveal the understanding of verbal humor and the generation of humorous effects. This paper aims at enhancing people’s comprehension of the nature of humor and existing forms, when they are watching the drama and understanding the verbal humor in the dialogues.

Key words: humorous utterances; relevance theory; Sherlock

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review...2

2.1 Overview of Humor

2.2 Traditional Approaches to Verbal Humor

  2.2.1 Superiority Theory

  2.2.2 Release Theory

 2.2.3 Incongruity Theory

2.3 Relevance Theory

 2.3.1 Ostensive-inferential Model

 2.3.2 Maximal Relevance and Optimal Relevance

 2.3.3 Context

3. Humorous Utterances in Sherlock from the Perspective of Relevance Theory5

3.1 Humorous Utterances Abiding by the Relevance Theory in Sherlock 

 3.1.1 Humorous Utterances Produced from Ostensive-inferential Model

 3.1.2 Humorous Utterances Produced from Maximal Relevance and Optimal Relevance

 3.1.3 Humorous Utterances Produced from Cognitive Context

3.2 Humorous Utterances by violation of the Relevance Theory in Sherlock

 3.2.1 Deviation of Ostensive-inferential Process

 3.2.2 Contrast between Maximal Relevance and Optimal Relevance

 3.2.3 Misunderstanding of Cognitive Context

4. Conclusion11

Bibliography.12

Acknowledgements..13