摘要:Language-expressed humor and language-created humor, and when cultural factor is considered, humor can be classified into cultural humor and non-cultural humor. The comparative study on English and Chinese humor expressions finds out that rough correspondence exists between them in terms of some linguistic devices and a special language form namely body language which create humor.
ctness of expression.” It is not uncommon phenomenon in semantics. If a sentence is ambiguous, it means that it can be interpreted in more than one way. Ambiguity is widely exploited in both English and Chinese to produce humor. For example:
(1)“There is a bug in the bottom of my cup!” howled a customer in a greasy-spoon cafe “What does this mean?”
“Listen, mate,” growled the owner, “if you want fortune told, go and find yourself a gipsy”
In (1), the customer wanted the owner to explain why there is a bug in his cup, but the owner did not answer the customer’s question directly. Rather, he told the customer if he wanted his fortune told, he could find a gipsy. So the owner's answer was not relevant to the purpose of the conversation.
(2)某生上课时睡觉被老师发现。
老师问:“你为什么睡觉?”
某生:“我没睡觉哇!”
老师:“那你为什么不睁开眼睛?”
某生:“我在闭目深思!”
老师:“那你为什么直点头呢?”
某生:“你刚才讲得很有道理!”
老师:“那你为什么直流口水?”某生:“因为我听得津津有味!”
In (2), literally, the student answered the teacher’s questions, but his answers were not relevant to the teacher’s questions. The assumption of the teacher’s questions is: the student was sleeping in class. In the teacher’s eye, closing eyes, keeping nodding and salivating are the evidence that proved the student was sleeping in class. But the student avoided the teacher’s assumption and used another way to explain his sleeping in class.
2.2 The Different Expressions of humor through body languages
In our daily life, sometimes we can express humor through our body languages, and it is very efficient in human communication. For instance, when we are talking with the others, it will be helpful if we use some body languages to express our humor, and in this way, communication seems to become an easy thing. Shrugging occasionally, making a face when you are talking with your close friends can make you very impressive. Humorous persons are always very popular, and humor expressed through body languages seems more convenient and efficient than the other ways.
People in English-speaking countries are very good at using body language to express humor this is the reason why Pantomime is fully developed in those countries.
Facial expression is a very important way of expressing humor. There are lots of artists in America and Britain entertainment circle who are famous for their humorous body language especially their facial expressions. Such as Jim Carrey and Rowan Atkinson (namely Mr. Bean), etc. Their mobile face and special characteristics of humor style wins them so much appreciation and honor, and also give the people so much amusement.
Chinese humor is rarely expressed by body language. Most Chinese artists specialize in language-using skill. Maybe this is resulted from the rich language sources of our country, we can use them to express anything appropriately. And there are also some cultural reasons that can explain this difference which will be analyzed in the next chapter.
Ⅲ. The Reasons of the Differences of Humor Expressions between English-Speaking Countries and China
3.1 The Reason of History and Geography
Actually, different geographical environment and different climates will model different cultures as well as different ethnic characters. Located in the central part of China, the Yellow River Valley with a typical climate of temperate zone is regarded as the cradle of Ch
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