Chapter OneIntroduction
1.1 Background of the Research
Humor，as is claimed by Nash (1986)，is not just a decoration of our life，but acomplex piece of equipment of living. It cannot only enhance our life quality, but alsofacilitates interpersonal communication. A probe into the generation mechanism ofhumor will ensure a better understanding of humor and help cultivate a sense of humor.In recent years, humor has been extensively studied from aspects like psychology,philosophy, linguistics, literary criticism, aesthetics and so on. However, althoughtremendous researches about humor have been done previously, very few of them wereconducted from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Besides, most ofthe present studies only concentrate on humor genres like riddles and situational jokes,whereas English verbal jokes that mainly play with words and grammar are seldomtouched upon (Li Yingying, 2007). Therefore, this thesis attempts to explore thegeneration mechanism of English verbal humor in the framework of grammaticalmetaphor, aiming to explain the innate process of humor production and propose atentative new approach to humor study.I
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1.2 Objectives of the Research
The present study aims to analyze the generation mechanism of English verbalhumor in the framework of grammatical metaphor to explore what roles the transitivitysystem, mood system, and modality system play in humor generation, so as to providea better understanding to humor and help cultivate a better sense of humor. Meanwhile,this study is also expected to prove that grammatical metaphor is powerful in helpinghumorists make predictions and manipulate interpretive steps, thus composing theirjokes tactfully. In summary, the present thesis attempts to answer the following questions;(i) Do grammatical metaphor theories have enough explanatory power to expoundEnglish verbal humor?(ii) How are the humorous effects realized in English verbal jokes from theperspective of grammatical metaphor?(Hi) What are the techniques or strategies that contribute to the generation ofhumorous utterances?
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Chapter TwoLiterature Review
2.1 Definition of Humor
When it comes to the definition of humon no consensus has been reached uponamong scholars so far. Originated from the Latin word for “fluid” or ''moisture",humor is regarded as one part of human beings, which is in line with Nash's (1985, p.l)definition，“humor is a specifying characteristic of humanity”. According to Freud(1976), humor is “a window into the unconscious”，“the saved energy", and theenjoyment of humor could reduce the pressure in human communication.Kerbtat-Orechiono considers humor as “a text whose per-locutionary effect is laughter”(Attardo, 1994. p.13). However, his definition ignores other effects of humor, such assmile, seriousness, and even tears. Compared with Kerbtat's definition, the oneproposed by Palmer is more comprehensive. Palmer (1994) holds the view that humoris everything that is actually or potentially funny and the process by which this“funniness” occours. Humor was first translated into Chinese as” by Lin Yutang,the famous writer and translator, Lin regards humor as a popular art form to expressone's viewpoint and even perceptions of the real world (Hu Fanzhu. 1987). As isclaimed by Ziv (1984). humor is “a form of social communication with intent to amuse,and a special cognitive and emotional nature that causes a physiological reaction，，(cited in Grunner. 1997, p. 93).
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2.2 Classification of Humor
Due to the complexity and multifacetedness of humor，it can be classified intomany subcategories according to different criteria.For example, according to whether the speaker produces the humor on purpose ornot，Freud (1976，p_130) divides humor into tendentious humor and innocent humor.Based on the psychological anticipation of hearers, humor can be divided into activehumor and passive humor. If we focus on the semantic targets, we have subtypes likepolitical humor，sexual humor，religious humor, Jewish humor and so on.Based on the relationship with language, Bergson (1980) divides humor intolanguage humor and verbal humor. Similarly, Koestler (1993，p.648) classifies humorinto verbal humor and situational humor. Verbal humor is the humor expressed throughlanguage，which can be found in genres like joke, irony, satire, comedy, anecdote, etc.Different from verbal humor, situational humor is less dependent on language butclosely bound to the situation or a certain context. Devices like cartoon, disguise,imitation, and impersonation are all expressions of situational humor.Tan Daren (1997) further explains that in a broader sense，verbal humor consistsof two subtypes; language-expressed humor and language-created humor. The formertype refers to humor in which the language itself is not laughable at all but only a toolused to express a funny or comical situation. On the contrary, in language-createdhumor language is used not only to describe the amusing things, but also as a sourceitself to generate humor. In this thesis, the author will mainly focus onlanguage-created humor.
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Chapter Three Theoretical Foundation......... 19
3.1 Ideational Metaphor and Its Realization ........19
3.1.1 Transitivity System ........19
3.1.2 Nominalization ........22
3.2 Interpersonal Metaphor and Its Realization........ 23
3.3 Summary........ 26
Chapter Four Mechanism of Humor Generation Based........8
4.1 Humor Generated Through Ideational Metaphors........28
4.1.1 Transference of Processes........ 29
4.1.2 Transference of Participants........ 29
4.1.3 Transference of Circumstances........ 30
4.2 Humor Generated through Interpersonal Metaphors........ 30
4.2.1 Mechanism of Humor Generation in Modality System........ 32
4.2.2 Mechanism of Humor Generation in Mood System........ 33
4.3 Summary ........35
Chapter Five Conclusion ........37
5.1 Major Findings of the Research........ 37
5.2 Implications and Prospects for Future Research........ 38
Chapter FourMechanism of Humor Generation Based onGrammatical Metaphor
4-1 Humor Generated Through Ideational Metaphors
When talking about ideational metaphor, Halliday refers to the variationhappening in the process of choices in the transitivity system of a language.Transitivity system involves the selection of process type, transitivity functions andsequence of group/phrase classes. Ideational metaphors are realized by variations ofthe selection. Therefore，transferences of process, participants, and circumstances are ‘three most commonly used representations of ideational metaphor. What is worthmentioning here is that，since those three components in transitivity system are closelybound to each other，any change of one component might elicit changes of others.Therefore, in the following analysis of this section, overlapping is unavoidable. As far as process is concerned, it involves the selection of process types.Tr^sference between different processes is a very common phenomenon in Englishlanguage. Thus，it is a very effective way of metaphorical representation.In English language, there are words bearing more than one lexical category，resulting in ambiguities during communication. In transitivity system, when the lexicalcategory changes, the type of process changes. Here are some examples.
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Conclusion
Ever since its emergence, Halliday's systemic-functional grammar has played avital role in modern linguistics and has stimulated the development and application oflinguistic theories. Tremendous enquiries into it have been conducted by scholars athome and abroad. Grammatical metaphor, one of the most influential elements in thescope of systemic-functional grammar, is engaged in the present paper. Under thetheoretical framework of grammatical metaphor, the author has illuminated howEnglish verbal humor is created, aiming to figure out the application of grammaticalmetaphor and its functions in humor generation. This thesis attempts to explore the mechanism of humor generation from theperspective of grammatical metaphor, with the goal of improving the perception andapplication of the use of humor in day-to-day conversations. Verbal humor generationis analyzed by looking at specific examples of verbally communicated jokes.
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