An Analysis of Verbal Humor of the Dialogues in American Situation Comedies from the Perspective of Pragmatics

Take 2 Broke Girls as an Example

Abstract

In recent years, technological advancements have facilitated the increased penetration of American sitcoms into the lives of Chinese audiences, transforming them into a prominent form of recreational entertainment. Notably, upon its release, the sitcom "2 Broke Girls" garnered substantial attention both domestically and internationally, with its humorous dialogues exhibiting a potent comedic effect. Given the significant emphasis Westerners place on humor, an analysis of the humorous dialogues in American sitcoms provides a valuable lens through which to gain deeper insights into Western cultural nuances and infuse mundane existence with amusement. Furthermore, this paper adopts a qualitative research methodology to explore verbal humor from a pragmatic perspective. It employs Grice's Cooperative Principle and Leach's Politeness Principle as the theoretical framework. By analyzing the dialogues in "2 Broke Girls," this thesis delves into the mechanics underpinning the creation of speech humor. The findings reveal that the violation of the four maxims of Grice's Cooperative Principle, as well as the six maxims of Leach's Politeness Principle, serves as a primary means to elicit verbal humor in this sitcom. Consequently, the breach of these two principles emerges as the dominant strategy for achieving humorous effect in "2 Broke Girls."