An Analysis of Humorous Dialogues in The Big Bang Theory From the Approach of Interpersonal Function

【Abstract】Humor， as an essential merit of human communication，makes our life more interesting. Based on Incongruity Theory in psychology，humor is generated by incongruity between what we expect to happen and what actually happened. Accordingly， this thesis focuses on the interpersonal function in systemic functional grammar and explores the humorous dialogues in a famous American sitcom the Big Bang Theory in terms of the functional structure and components. This thesis makes an attempt to demonstrate the applicability of taking interpersonal function theories into humor analysis.

【Key words】humor； incongruity； systemic functional grammar； interpersonal function

【作者简介】朱黎黎（1989- ），女，辽宁锦州人，中山大学南方学院外国语学院，助教，中山大学博士生在读，研究方向：系統功能语言学、话语研究、文化研究。

1. Introduction

The Big Bang Theory， a famous American sitcom premiered on CBS， is full of verbal humor appealing to many audiences. These dialogues， in current studies， have been perceived from the angle of cognitive linguistics， psychological linguistics， and pragmatics. Compared with conventional approaches， the functional approach is still in its infancy.

Incongruity theory， as the traditional theory of humor in the psychology field， believes that humor is generated by incongruity between what we assume to occur and what actually occurs. The interpersonal function refers to using language to express social and personal relations， there are many different means by which the speaker gets into a speech situation and conducts a speech act. To put the two theories together would make the study of humor more reliable and can lead to a better understanding of humor.

Based on the incongruity theory， this paper analyzes the humorous dialogues selected from an American sitcom the Big Bang Theory， interprets humor and shows the feasibility of taking interpersonal function theory into humor analysis.

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1 The Incongruity Theory

Incongruity theory was first put forward in18th century and developed later on. Incongruity is defined as “the fact of being incongruous， something that does not seem to fit in with or not be appropriate to its context” （Brian， 2004）. Schopenhauer argues a humorous situation arises “when two or more real objects are thought through one concept” （1957： 76）. There said be a linguistic trigger to generate humor. “The teller misleads the tellee into expecting something， and when the punchline is delivered， there is an element of surprise， which would generate humorous effect”（Jensen and Engelsk， 2009）.

2.2 Mood system and Modality of Interpersonal Function

According to Thompson， language has a function of communication， one of the main purposes of communication is to establish and maintain proper social contact with them” （2008： 45）. “Interpersonal function refers to mood， modality and key”（Huang 2005： 77）. Martin agrees that system of mood belongs to the interpersonal metafunction of the language. It is the key interpersonal system of the clause， and is the grammatical basis for realizing an interactive move in dialogue （2010： 56）.

Speakers get into a speech situation and conduct a speech act by different ways. According to Halliday， in the act of interaction， the speaker himself plays a certain speech role， and expects the listener to play a complementary role. “The most fundamental types of speech role， which lies behind all these specific types are giving and demanding （Thompson 2008： 47）.

Mood system consists of two parts： Subject and Finite. Subject is grammatical doer， it is a nominal group； According to Halliday， the subject is the something by “reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or defined” （2000： 76）. Finite is defined as “having the function of making the proposition finite”（2000： 75）. The residue supplies the rest to form a complete clause， normally containing three functional elements predicator， complement and adjuncts except modal adjunct. Modal adjuncts do not belong to residue. They have an interpersonal function and embody the speakers assessment along these different dimensions （Martin 2010： 61）.

3. Humor Generated by Incongruity Under Interpersonal Function

In the process of communication， speakers are supposed to play his speech role. He can select modal operators and modal adjuncts in accordance with his value. Changing his speech role at any time or choosing inappropriate modality would produce incongruity and set the audience into a funny situation.

3.1 Speech Role and Humor

Just as mentioned in theoretical part， the basic role of speaker is giving and demanding. When the speaker performs a certain speech role， the listener is expected to play a complementary role. When one of the participant loses his interest in the ongoing topic or unwilling to talk further about the topic， he may swift the topic by asking another question， putting forward a new topic， or giving information about other topic. Incongruity caused this way will generate humor.

Example： Context： Rajs parents introduced him a girl. However， the girl did not like him when they dating， so she left with Rajs friend Sheldon， who was enthusiastic about the girl. Now， the parents are blaming Raj.

Raj：Go ahead， tell my parents why they wont have any grandchildren.

Sheldon：How would I know？ Do you have a low sperm count？

Raj：This has nothing to do with my sperm count.

Rajs mother：You are wearing the boxers that we sent you， arent you， Rajesh？

Raj：Yes， Mummy.

Rajs mother： Because you know what happens to the samosas when you wear tighty-whities.

Raj：Can we please stop talking about my testicles？

In the first clause of Raj， he is playing a role of commander， and requiring Sheldon to play the role of supplier. So the expected role of Sheldon is a supplier of information. He should give an explanation to Rajs parents about what he did to Rajs dating. As we know， statements are always expressed by declarative mood. But Sheldon uses two interrogative clauses to show his innocence. He shifts his role of giving to the role of question， because he really thinks the reason may be as he has asked. And he asks Raj to perform the speech function of statement. The role shifting of Sheldon， successfully make others ignore the reason why Raj failed in his dating， but changes the topic to the Rajs testicles. Consequently， funny atmosphere is created.

3.2 Mood system， Modality and Humor

Subject and Finite together make up the Mood system， the former is grammatical doer， and the latter performs “the function of making the proposition finite” （Halliday 2000：275）. Any change of the tense， modality and polarity can make the meaning of a clause quite different. Hence， humor effect can sometimes be gained.

Example： Context： Dennis is a smart doctoral candidate， and he is only 15 years old from North Korea. Sheldon is showing Dennis around his office， now they are talking about the Stevenson Award Sheldon won when he was fourteen and a half.

Dennis：Wow， you won the Stevenson Award？

Sheldon： Yes. In fact， I am the youngest person ever to win it.

Dennis：Really？ How old？

Sheldon： Fourteen and a half.

Dennis：Hm， you were the youngest person ever to win it.

In the dialogue， the mood element， the Subject and the Residue are respectively “Sheldon” and “the youngest person ever to win it”. Dennis changed the tense of the finite from present “am” into the past tense “were”， and the whole meaning of the clause is changed. We can easily infer what Dennis really means is that it is he that is the youngest person win Steven Award， not Sheldon any longer. This time Sheldon completely loses the battle with Dennis. This example exhibits the incongruity of humor that originates from change of the tense of the finite.

4. Conclusion

Humor is extensively studied in psychology， cognitive linguistics and pragmatics. The humor theories and research methods of humor each has its own advantages. But functional structures and components in dialogues have not been examined yet. This paper is an attempt to apply the interpersonal function into the interpretation of humor. The relevant conversations， characterized by rich humor in Big Bang Theory， supply sufficient materials for this research purpose. It is found that interpersonal function may serve as a new tool for interpreting humor and may broaden the range of traditional approaches to humor interpretation. This novel approach will definitely contribute to the analysis of humor if properly applied.

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