《生活大爆炸》第七季中的言语幽默分类研究

张晨夏

(上海交通大学 外国语学院，上海 200240)



《生活大爆炸》第七季中的言语幽默分类研究

张晨夏

(上海交通大学 外国语学院，上海 200240)

选择《生活大爆炸》第七季作为研究言语幽默的语料，从合作原则、关联原则、礼貌原则和预设原则4种主要的言语幽默原则，多角度、多层次地分析《生活大爆炸》第七季包含的1350个言语幽默片段，并将1350个言语幽默片段分成8类：违反量的准则、违反质的准则、违反关系准则、违反方式准则、违反策略和宽容准则、违反赞扬和谦虚准则、违反赞同和同情准则以及违反预设。进一步描述了《生活大爆炸》第七季中言语幽默片段的统计结果，发现违反预设的言语幽默在《生活大爆炸》第七季中出现的次数最多，位居第二的是违反策略和宽容准则，并分析了形成这个结果的可能诱因。

言语幽默；分类；《生活大爆炸》第七季；语用学

众所周知，幽默不仅能够促进人际交往，为人们的生活增添色彩，还能起到缓和交流气氛的作用。随着社会的进步，幽默已经逐渐成了人们日常生活中放松心情的一种主要方式。尽管由于文化不同，来自不同文化地区的人们不能相互理解对方的文化习俗，但所有人都知道笑声意味着欢乐，而幽默正是带来笑声的主要途径。因此，幽默也是促进不同文化地区的人们互相交流的重要方式，也引起了相关学者的广泛关注。许多学者对幽默的惯用词、委婉语及社会习俗等方面进行了研究，有力促进了关于言语幽默的研究。现如今，幽默可以通过手势、眼神、面部表情、语音语调等多种方式实现，而言语幽默是许多电视剧中表达幽默的最重要方式，所以研究言语幽默将会有力加强对幽默的研究。

由于言语幽默给人们的生活带来了无穷的乐趣，在人们的日常生活中起到越来越重要的作用，因此，随着美剧的引入及美式幽默的大量传播，研究言语幽默能够很好地帮助中国观众理解美式幽默，理解美国文化。本文将研究焦点放在热播美剧《生活大爆炸》第七季中的言语幽默片段上。这部美剧在2007年上映，有6位个性鲜明的主人公，从该剧引入中国开始，便在国内拥有了大量忠实粉丝。这部剧能够如此成功的主要原因就是其中令人捧腹的对话。笔者将《生活大爆炸》第七季中包含的1350个言语幽默片段分成8类，以期研究结果有利于人们加深对情景喜剧中言语幽默的理解，同时希望为情景喜剧中言语幽默的创作以及学习提供有意义的借鉴, 并帮助人们更好地在社会交际中使用言语幽默。

1 言语幽默形成的四种主要原则

1.1 违反合作原则

合作原则(Cooperative Principle)是由格莱斯(H P Grice)于1975年在他的著作《逻辑与对话》(LogicandConversation)中首次提出[2]。他认为，人们为了保证对话的顺利进行，交际双方需要遵守一些共同的基本原则，他把这些基本原则总结为四个准则：量的准则(Maxim of quantity),尽量提供对方所需信息，不提供冗余信息；质的准则(Maxim of quality)，讲有把握的真话，不说自己知道是虚假的话；关系准则(Maxim of relation),讲有联系的话；方式准则(Maxim of manner),讲话不应含糊，有歧义，应简洁，有逻辑[10]。

在对话中，如果人们严格遵守了这些准则，那么所产生的对话就是正常的对话。然而，由于日常生活中种种客观或主观原因，比如面子问题[8]和误解对方说话人意思等情况，说话人有可能主动或被动选择违反这些原则，这时，就会产生会话含义，而言语幽默正是蕴含在这些弦外之音当中。所以，违反合作原则能够形成言语幽默。

1.2 违反关联原则

在合作原则的基础上，1985年Sperber和Wilson在CommunicationandCognition中提出了关联原则(Relevance Theory)。[4]关联原则认为，交流双方在理解话语时，说话人期待的话语和对其所做的假设存在一种相互作用，而这种相互作用能够产生一种特殊的语境效果，如果一种信息在一种语境下能产生语境效果，那么它就是关联的。若参与交流的双方希望正确理解话语含义，他们会希望用最小的努力获得最大的语境效果，即最佳关联(optimal relevance)。

而有些时候，说话人会十分间接地表达意思，这种情况下话语的关联性就很弱，对方需要花费许多努力才能理解其含义，而这些努力必须以语境效果的形式得以实现。当这种努力的语境效果表现为笑声时，言语幽默得以实现。[9]所以，违反关联原则，即话语关联性弱，也是产生言语幽默的诱因之一。

1.3 违反礼貌原则

作为合作原则的补充，礼貌原则(Politeness Theory)进一步揭示了人们在部分情况下违反合作原则的原因。礼貌原则由著名语言学家Geoffrey Leech在1983年的著作PrinciplesofPragmatics中提出。[3]礼貌原则又可分为6项准则，分别为：策略准则、宽容准则、赞扬准则、谦虚准则、赞同准则和同情准则。礼貌原则的核心是使自身受惠最小，使他人受惠最大；使自身受损最大，使他人受损最小[7]。

由于礼貌是社交的基本准则，在日常交际中对话双方常常都首要遵守礼貌原则，从而不得不舍弃对合作原则的遵守，以至产生误会，一部分言语幽默就此产生；同时，在有些时候，对某人而言礼貌的说法对于来自不同文化背景的对方而言是不礼貌的，导致了言语幽默的产生。因此，违反礼貌原则也能产生言语幽默。

1.4 违反预设原则

预设(Presupposition)的概念由德国哲学家和数学家G.Frege首次提出[1]。在语用概念中，预设指的是说话人没有明说，但在话语中已经包含的前提。[6]具体而言，就是说话人刻意营造一种特殊语境使听话人对语境有所预测，对说话人的回答有所期望。[5]在这种情况下，当说话人的回答与听话人所期望的回答不一致时，就会产生言语幽默的效果。预设是多变的，违反预设是一种产生言语幽默的有效策略。在言语幽默中，预设并不在话语中明示，而是隐含在话语的背后含义中。

2 《生活大爆炸》第七季中言语幽默的种类

在仔细观看第七季《生活大爆炸》之后，以背景中产生观众笑声为判定依据，笔者在其中共发现了1350个言语幽默片段。根据言语幽默产生的4种主要原则，笔者将这1350个言语幽默片段分成8种，分别为：违反量的准则，违反质的准则，违反关系准则，违反方式准则，违反策略和宽容准则，违反赞扬和谦虚准则，违反赞同和同情准则，违反预设。

2.1 违反量的准则

违反量的准则,即对话双方中有人提供了冗余信息或信息量不足而引发言语幽默。

(Sheldon was angry with Leonard for his cheating him)

L: So am I driving you to work or are you still mad at me?

S: I’d like a ride. Assuming you actually take me to work.

L: Where do you think I would take you?

S: Who knows? Uh, you said you’d be home yesterday, but you came home three days ago. You say you’re taking me to work, but for all I know, I’ll end up in a deserted amusement park. Or a cornfield maze. Or a back alley dog fight. You tell me.

在这段对话中，由于Sheldon正在和Leonard置气，所以，当Leonard问他问题时，他的回答并不是为了真的回答Leonard的问题，而是为了表达他生气的感受，因此他给出了许多无关紧要的冗余信息，从而产生了言语幽默。

(Amy told Sheldon that she would go to his school to do some research which meant that they could have more time staying together, but Sheldon did not realize what Amy meant.)

A: Sheldon, I have some exciting news to tell you. I’ve been invited to consult on an experiment at your university for a few months. Isn’t that great? We could have lunch together. We could carpool.

S: You know, riding with Leonard has gotten a little tedious lately. The only car game he has ever wanted to play is the Quiet Game. And he is terrible at that. I always win.

当Amy告诉Sheldon他们有机会在一起工作并感到开心时，Sheldon并没有直接回答这个问题，而是说了很多多余信息来暗示与Amy一起工作并不是一个好的选择，从而产生了言语幽默。

2.2 违反质的原则

违反质的原则即对话双方给出的质量很低的回答，从而使对话没有达到预期效果而产生的言语幽默。

(Leonard did not want to go to watch the football match with Penny because he had no interest in that. But Penny thought that it was she who read Leonard’s mother’s book that made him angry.)

P: I never should have read that book. You know what? You want to just get dinner and watch the game here?

L: That sounds nice.

P: Okay.

L: Or, you know, we could get take-out and watch the Blu-ray extended version of the movieTheHobbitwith commentary track. On account of how sad I am about my mom.

在这段对话中，Leonard故意欺骗了Penny，因为他不想去看球赛的真正原因是他不感兴趣，而不是Penny读了他妈妈的书。他的欺骗性质的回答,使得这段对话没有达到应有的效果，从而也产生了幽默。

(Raj liked playing different games with women so much,which the other three men did not like.)

R: Okay, let me have it. Let’s hear all the ‘Raj is a girl’ jokes.

H: Nope, Bernadette told me it isn’t nice and I’m not allowed.

R: Thank you.

H: So I won’t be making fun of you, or the things you like. Or the fact that you just want to have fun.

Howard说他不会嘲笑Raj，但事实上他却嘲笑了Raj。所以在这里Howard的回答是低质量的，并没有说实话，从而导致了言语幽默。

2.3 违反关系准则

违反关系准则即对话双方所说的话语互相并无关联，而是自说自话，从而产生的幽默效果。

(Howard wanted to give a surprise to his wife on their first date anniversary and he asked others to help him.)

H: Look, she’s gonna be back any second, so here’s the deal: I’m writing a song, and I was hoping we could all play it for her together.

L&P&A&R： Oh, I love that. That’s so beautiful.

H: Sheldon?

S: When did we get to the Cheesecake Factory?

在这段对话中，Sheldon沉浸于自己的世界中并没有听Howard的计划和其他人的讨论。在整个对话中，Sheldon和Howard各自在说不同的内容，从而产生了言语幽默。

(As Amy pointed out some plot holes in Sheldon’s favorite movie, Sheldon tried his best to find some plot holes among things that Amy liked as a revenge. And Leonard was anxious about the football game that he had to go with Penny, which he had no interests in.)

S: You know, why couldn’t she just like Ziggy? That thing’s riddled with plot holes.

L: Sorry, buddy.

S: I think she’s a fan of Garfield as well. Oh, darn it, now so am I.

L: I’ll see you later. I gotta go watch a stupid football game with Penny.

S: Wait—hang on. You’ve spent time with Amy. Can you think of anything she’s fond of that has a bunch of flaws she hasn’t noticed?

L: I gotta go.

在这段对话中，Sheldon和Leonard都心不在焉。Leonard心想着一会儿和Penny去看球赛,而Sheldon想要报复Amy,他们两个人都没对这段对话在意，从而相互回答的毫无关联，产生了言语幽默。

2.4 违反行为准则

违反行为准则即对话双方的话语不符合清晰和简洁明了要求，从而产生言语幽默。

(One night, Sheldon had a nightmare in which Leonard had been eaten by a kraken, and he was too afraid to sleep alone, which led him into knocking Penny’s door)

S: Penny, Penny, Penny!

P: What’s the matter?

S: Um….I was worried that you might be missing Leonard and that might be causing you to have bad dreams, like the king you’d get if you watched Clash of the Titans right before you went to bed.

P: Sweetie, did you have a bad dream?

S:To be honest, I did. Back to the Future II was put in the Back to the Future III case. Leonard did it.

Sheldon为了掩饰他做噩梦的事实，说了许多无关紧要的内容而不是简洁明了地回答问题，他的这种不够简洁明了的回答,产生了言语幽默的效果。

(Leonard found that Sheldon had created a new way to synthesize a new element.)

L: Holy crap, Sheldon, did you just figure out a method for synthesizing a new stable super-heavy element?

S: Did I? Well, that can’t be right. No one’s ever done that before. Except me, because I just did it! Sheldon and his brain—yeah!

尽管Sheldon知道他找到了一种合成新元素的方法，他却仅仅回答说自己为自己而骄傲，并不直接回答Howard的问题，这种含糊其辞的回答产生了言语幽默。

2.5 违反策略和宽容准则

违反策略和宽容准则即对话双方没有遵守礼貌待人的原则，从而产生幽默效果。

(Amy and Bernadette were discussing the subject of a lecture in the meeting they attended in a bar)

B:I am going to the lecture on posterior cingulated cortex lesions in the formation of autobiographical memory

A:Oh, brain lesions are fascinating. Unless they’re yours, they’re a drag

B:To the advancement of science.

A: And to the sick and dying who make it possible.

根据礼貌原则，Amy应该表扬Bernadette提出的建议，而Amy却直接以粗鲁的方式说了Bernadette很愚蠢，从而营造出了言语幽默的效果。

(Sheldon and Penny were going upstairs together with heavy things in their hands)

S: And there’s another interesting weather fact.

P: Another? Great!

S: Changes in jet streams can affect the speed at which the Earth rotates on its axis, so bad weather can actually make the day longer.

P: Well, there must be a hell of a storm somewhere.

Sheldon正在说的关于天气的理论是Amy完全不感兴趣的，因此Amy并没有礼貌地听下去而是直接不礼貌地嘲笑了他，从而导致了言语幽默的产生。

2.6 违反赞扬和谦虚准则

违反赞扬和谦虚准则即对话双方太过骄傲，而不去欣赏和夸赞他人的成就。

(Raj decided to organize a scavenger hunt, and he was introducing this game to others.)

R: I am going to make you guys a scavenger hunt like they have at M.I.T.

H: I loved those. I did them every year there.

L: We did them at Princeton, too.

H: Oh, that’s cute. Like it’s a real college.

S: That’s amusing—I was going to say that about M.I.T.but it works for Princeton, too.

众所周知，麻省理工和普林斯顿都是世界著名的大学。但是Sheldon认为世界上不会有人比他更聪明，因此他看不起世界上其他任何人的大学，这种态度在对话中产生了言语幽默的效果。

(Sheldon was immersed in his own world to solve a serious problem, which made him keep silent for hours.)

L: Please say something.

S: Leonard, prepare to be humbled and weep at the glory of my genius.

L: Nope, it was better before.

Sheldon自认是自己是世界上最聪明的人，所以他坚信自己会成为一个伟人，这违反了谦虚准则;同时，Leonard对Sheldon表示了轻蔑而不是欣赏，这两种态度都导致了言语幽默的产生。

2.7 违反赞同和同情准则

违反赞同和同情准则即说话人中一人对另一人表示不屑和轻视，对话中其他人没有对被轻视者表示同情而是同样表示不屑和轻视。

(Leonard wanted to live with Penny secretly, so he did not tell Sheldon that he came back from his experimental station, which annoyed Sheldon.)

S: Oh, no, I should apologize. Uh, I never realized to what extent our friendship was a burden to you.

L: That is not fair. I complain about what a burden it is at least once a month.

S: Oh, no, no, let’s not sugarcoat this. You find me finicky, pedantic and annoying.

P: No, he doesn’t.

L: I actually have used those exact words before. In that order.

当Sheldon抱怨Leonard把他们两人的友谊当成一种负担时，Leonard并没有安慰他而是继续打击他，这种不同情的话语产生了幽默效果。

(Raj always organized some boring games, and none of others wanted to join in.)

R: None of you RSVP’d to my murder mystery dinner party.

L: Oh, yeah. We were meaning to do that.

R: No, you weren’t, because it was a week ago and nobody came! So, if you want to solve the mystery of who stabbed Koothrappali in the back with the weapon of indifference, it was all of you.

S: I don’t think that qualifies as a mystery. We all knew what we were doing.

A: We are sorry, Raj.

B: May be we can have it next week.

H: Whoa, whoa, we’re not that sorry.

当Raj抱怨没有一个人去他办的派对让他非常伤心时，其他人继续对他冷嘲热讽而没有安慰他受伤的心，这些话产生了言语幽默的效果。

2.8 违反预设

违反预设,即说话人中一方所说的话语和另一方根据语境预测的话语不一致产生的言语幽默。

(Leonard was tidying up his old things in a box, and suddenly he found a red sweater which was sent by his aunt as a gift when he was in university.)

L: Oh, I forgot about this. My aunt made it for me when I started college.

P: Aw, did she hate you?

在这种情况下，观众的预期是Penny将会夸奖Leonard的姨妈和他的毛衣，而不是说Leonard的姨妈恨他。而Penny的回答与观众按照语境预期出的回答不符，而产生了一种幽默效果。

(Leonard and Howard paid a lot of money to get a ticket of the comic book convention, and Penny, Any and Bernadette was discussing about it)

B: Oh, while they’re acting like teenagers, we could do something grown-up.

A: Oh. You mean like a museum?

P: Yes, like a museum, but anything else.

当Penny回答出Yes时，Amy所预想的是Penny会支持自己的建议。然而，她用了一些话语机智地反对了Amy去博物馆的建议，因为她对这项活动毫无兴趣，这种机智的回答营造了喜剧氛围。

3 《生活大爆炸》第七季中言语幽默的分类

笔者将这部美剧第七季中出现的1350个言语幽默片段分别归类,结果见表1。

表1 《生活大爆炸》第七季的言语幽默分类

从表1可以发现，在1350个言语幽默片段中，占比最少的是违反赞扬和谦虚准则式幽默，只有98个；而占比最多的是违反预设式幽默，几乎是违反赞扬和谦虚准则幽默数量的3倍，有353个；违反策略和宽容原则式幽默的数量在8种言语幽默中位居第二，共232个。而其余的5种言语幽默的数量基本相当，在140个左右。可以清晰看出，违反预设的言语幽默的数量几乎占所有1350个言语幽默片段总量的四分之一，违反策略和宽容准则的数量占了近五分之一。

然而，只有7%的言语幽默属于违反赞扬和谦逊准则，8%属于违反赞同和同情准则。其余4种言语幽默在总量中所占比例几乎相同。

违反预设指的是，说话人的回答与在当时建立起的语境下听话人所预想的回答不同时，所产生的言语幽默。当说话人的回答与听话人的预想相同时，就不会产生违反预设式言语幽默，而是正常的对话。在《生活大爆炸》第七季中,违反预设的言语幽默出现的数量最多，这个现象反映的言语幽默方法可能被广泛运用到整个《生活大爆炸》美剧中，因为违反预设式言语幽默涉及的文化背景很少，无论人们来自哪个国家，大多数人能理解处在两种不同语境中的对话者发出的毫无关联的对话所带来的幽默效果。正因为如此，违反预设的言语幽默在《生活大爆炸》第七季中出现的次数最多。

在《生活大爆炸》第七季的言语幽默中,出现次数位居第二的是违反策略和宽容准则，指的是说话人在对话中不够礼貌的情况。礼貌是日常交流中的最基本原则。在正常的对话中，说话人一般选择使用委婉语等其他方法礼貌地表达自己的观点。当说话人不加任何修饰而违反了礼貌原则进行对话时，就会产生一定的幽默效果。在美剧中，尽管有些说法违反了策略和宽容准则，在对话中显得不够礼貌，但确实能营造出令观众发笑的喜剧效果;同时，美国对于不礼貌的接受程度比世界上大部分国家要高得多，所以美剧中便产生了大量违反策略和宽容准则的言语幽默。

研究结果表明，在《生活大爆炸》第七季的言语幽默中只有百分之七属于违反赞扬和谦虚准则。赞扬和谦虚准则指的是当对话中一方对自己已完成的某项成就表示骄傲时，对话中另一方对此表示赞同。当对话人中的另一方对前一方观点表示不赞同时，违反赞扬和谦虚准则的言语幽默便有产生的可能。这种言语幽默的数量比其他几种幽默的数量少的原因是它较不常见，因为这类言语幽默包含一定的文化导向性。众所周知，美国文化十分强调自信，而中国文化中强调的谦逊，因此，相较于违反预设、违反策略和宽容等没有文化导向的言语幽默在任何文化中都很流行，违反赞扬和谦逊准则这种言语幽默只会在美国更流行。同理，违反赞扬和谦虚准则的言语幽默的流行度也低于其他言语幽默。

4 结语

笔者将《生活大爆炸》第七季中的1350个言语幽默片段分成8种：违反量的准则，违反质的准则，违反关系准则，违反方式准则，违反策略和宽容准则，违反赞扬和谦虚准则，违反赞同和同情准则，违反预设。并发现其中出现频率最高的是没有文化导向性的违反预设和违反策略和宽容准则的言语幽默，而受文化导向性影响最大的违反赞扬和谦虚准则的言语幽默出现的频率最低。笔者还期望此研究结果能够有利于编剧更好地创造言语幽默，并帮助人们更好地在社会交际中使用言语幽默。

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A STUDY OF CLASSIFICATIONS OF VERBAL HUMOR IN THE SEVENTH SEASON OF THE BIG BANG THEORY

ZHANG Chenxia

(SchoolofForeignLanguages,ShanghaiJiaotongUniversity,Shanghai200240,China)

The paper uses the seventh season ofTheBigBangTheoryas a corpus of studying verbal humor and conducts a multi-angled and leveled analysis of the 1350 verbal humor episodes in it from such 4 main verbal humor theories as the principles of cooperation,relevance,politeness and presupposition.The 1350 verbal humor episodes are classified into 8 categories based on the following theories:violating the maxim of quantity,violating the maxim of quality,violating the maxim of relation,violating the maxim of manner,violating the maxim of tact and generosity,violating the maxim of approbation and modesty,violating the maxim of agreement and sympathy,and violating the maxim of presupposition.Then the article further describes the statistical results of the verbal humor episodes in the seventh season ofTheBigBangTheory.The results show that violating the maxim of presupposition is used most frequently and violating the maxim of tact and generosity is in the second place.The paper analyzes the possible potential factors behind the results.

verbal humor;classification;the seventh season ofTheBigBangTheory;pragmatics

2016-04-22

张晨夏(1993-)，女，河南郑州人，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：应用语言学

1673-1751(2016)02-0110-07

H03, H087

A