A Pragmatic Study of English Puns

A Pragmatic Study of English Puns A Thesis Submitted to College of Foreign Languages Xingtan College Qufu Normal University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply indebted to Zhu He, my supervisor, who guided me throughout the whole writing of this thesis. She has read my drafts through carefully and painstakingly, and offered incisive comments and precious criticism on them. Without her help, I can’t make my thesis reach its present form. I am also deeply grateful to all my course teachers who has given me excellent lectures and great help. My sincere gratitude also goes to all my classmates who had offered generous advice and help in my process of writing this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all the writers whose works has been referred to in this thesis. Their wonderful works and views help me a lot. 摘 要 双关语是一种特殊的语言现象并有着悠久的历史。英语双关修辞格极具韵味 iiii 与艺术现力，具有简洁凝练、幽默诙谐、引发联想等特点，它在文学作品、商业广告、日常交际等领域都有非常广泛的应用，并且一直是学者们的热点研究对象。该文从语用学的角度，结合实例，通过文献研究、文本分析以及收集相关资料，分析及探讨英语双关语的语用价值和语用意义，以促进英语双关语的正确理解和有效运用。本文先大体介绍了英语双关语的起源、定义、分类、特征、修辞功能等;然后结合语用学中的言语行为理论、会话含义理论以及关联理论对一些双关语的例子做了相关分析。 关键词:英语双关语;语用学;言语行为理论;会话含义理论;关联理论 ABSTRACT Pun is a special language phenomenon which has experienced a long history in iiiiii English. English pun has a great artistic charm. It has the features of conciseness, humor, and creativeness. In our daily life, it has been widely used in literature, commercials, and daily communications. Pun has always been a major subject in English studies. More and more scholars have chosen it as their research topics. This thesis lays more stress on the pragmatic study of English puns. With examples, it tries to analyze and research the pragmatic values and meanings of English puns to promote the correct understanding and effective usage. Firstly, this thesis introduces English puns thoroughly, including its origin, definition, classification, features, rhetorical functions and so on. And then, with the pragmatic study of Speech Act Theory, Theory of Conversational Implicature and Relevance Theory, it makes an analysis of some English puns in our daily life. Key words: English pun, pragmatics, Speech Act Theory, Theory of Conversational Implicature, Relevance Theory CONTENTS 0. Introduction..............................................................................................................1 iviv 1. Introduction of puns.................................................................................................1 1.1 The origin of English puns.......................................................................................2 1.2 The definition of puns..............................................................................................2 1.3 The classification of puns.........................................................................................3 1.4 The features of puns.................................................................................................4 1.5 The rhetoric functions of puns..................................................................................5 1.6 The application of English puns...............................................................................7 2. Speech Act Theory and puns...................................................................................9 3. Theory of Conversational Implicature and puns..................................................9 4. Relevance Theory and puns .......................................................................……..11 5. Conclusion...............................................................................................................13 Works Cited................................................................................................................14 vv 0. Introduction Pun, a common expression in rhetoric, consciously uses a word or the same sentence to convey two different meanings in the context, which expresses the fact of deepening meaning of double articles and enable the word to have a specified implication. As a common figure of speech, pun has a long history in English language, and widely used in many fields, like commercials, literature, and daily communication. The meaning of pun often makes the language thought-provoking. The puns are often used to portray people’s inner feelings and display rich meaning of the context. The figure of speech just uses language subtly to initiate readers to understand the double meaning of the sentence, to appreciate the context meaning and to experience the terrific sound of puns from one aspect to another, from outer to inner. The pragmatic is the study of “intended speaker meaning”. It also has the close relations with the context and the inner feeling of the speakers. There are many famous theories in this study, like Speech acts theory, the theory of conversational interaction, and the co-operative principle. In this thesis, we will merge these principles with English puns to promote the right understanding and effective use. With the study of the pragmatics, we would like to make the pun research to display dynamic trends of multidisciplinary, multi-angle, and multi-level. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part gives basic information of English puns, including its origin, definition and classification, characteristics and rhetoric function, and its application. The second part states the Speech Act Theory and English puns, the third part reveals the Theory of Conversational Implicature, and the last part describes the Relevance Theory and the English puns. 1. Introduction of English Puns Pun is one of the most commonly used figures of speech. It has been welcomed by many fields, like literature, commercials, daily communication and so on. We 11 could often be in touch with it in our life. It is also an effective way to express humor and to make criticism. Since the 1990s, more and more scholars have tried their best to study the English puns. 1.1 The origin of English puns Pun is arisen early in English. When it came into the Shakespeare period, it is widely used in many fields, especially in literature. English pun is also called “paronomasia” or “play-on words”. It is derived from the Latin word “paronomazein” which means to call by a different name. The English pun has experienced a long history, and it has become the most beloved rhetorical tools to create great literature works. From the view of many courses, the English has experienced not only decline but also prosperity. 1.2 The definition of English puns Over the past 20 years, people have discussed puns thoroughly but up to now there is still no certain definition of the English puns. In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, pun is “an amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings, for example: Seven days without water make one weak (= 1 week).” Pun is defined in Webster?s New World Dictionary as “the humorous use of a word or words which are formed or sound alike but have different meanings, in such a way as to play on two or more of the possible applications; a play on words.” However, the Oxford English Dictionary has its own opinion about pun: “the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations”, or “the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect”. The author of Pun an Jokes defines the pun like this, “A pun is a form of speech play in which a word or phrase unexpectedly and simultaneously combines two unrelated meanings.” 22 Anyway, pun is a humorous use of words or phrases, and the words or phrases which form a pun suggest two or more meanings or the meaning of another word or phrase similar in sound or some extended or distorted meanings by association with its pronunciation or graphic form. 1.3 The classification of puns 1) Homophony pun Homophony pun is made by the language materials, which are the same sound of the words or the nearly same pronunciation but different in meaning. For example: “Mine is a long and sad tale!” said the mouse, turning the Alice and sighing. “It?s a long tail, certainly” said Alice, looking down with wonder at the mouse?s tail, but why do you call it sad? ----Lewis Carroll: Alice?s adventures in wonderland In this dialogue, “tale” and “tail” have the same sound, and what the mouse said is “tale” while Alice mistakes “tale” as “tail”, so the story has a sense of humor. 2) Homograph pun Homograph pun refers to a type of puns, which is relevant to the words of similar spelling but different in meaning and the words of several meanings used in a certain context. For example: The professor tapped on his desk and shouted, “Gentleman, order!” The entire class yelled, “Beer!” This joke mainly relies on the double meanings of the word “order”. The professor’s “order” is to wish students to keep the discipline, which the students interpret as “order food and drinks”, so they maturely answer to the professor with “beer”. All of these create the actively atmosphere in the class. 3) Grammar pun Grammar pun is that pun is produced by the grammar features. This is to use ellipsis, expansion, transferred meaning between singular form and plural form, transferred meaning between parts of speech, change of structures, change of idioms, 33 and substitute to make puns, etc. For example: A: Which lager can claim to be truly German? B: This can. This is the advertisement of Lager brand beer. In the sentence “can” not only means “able”, but also means “beverage can”. It is to make this advertisement produce strong humorous effect, leaving a deep impression on the readers. 4) Extended pun Extended pun means using some language phenomenon (such as word formation, pronunciation, etc.) to produce imagination, spot to play, appreciate extension, appreciate tampering, thereby achieving some humorous results. The extended pun is often used in riddles and brainteasers. For example: What weather do mice most dislike? When it?s raining cats and dogs. “Rain cats and dogs” is an idiom which means it rains quite heavily. If we just think about this idiom’s literal meaning by words, it is apparent for the mice to dislike the facts that their enemies (cats and dogs) fall down from the sky to the ground. 1.4 The features of puns 1) Concise and vivid The pun can express double meanings with one word, phrase or the same sentence, so the concision is its biggest feature. For example: Hot weather, cool service. In this advertisement, “cool” has two meanings: one is “cold”, the other is “good, excellent”. The maker of the advertisement not only tells the consumers the service of its store, but also promises the quality of their service. It conveys rich meanings just with the four words. 2) Euphemistic and implicit The words used in puns always have the similar sound, or spelling but with different meanings. We can always get the implied meanings from the simple forms. 44 For example: Your argument is sound, nothing but sound. In this sentence, the word “sound” appears two times, but has different meanings. The first word “sound” is adjective which means “reasonable, convincing”. The other word “sound” means “a noise”. Here, the speaker expresses his criticism tactful. 3) Humorous and jocular Puns always make a humorous effect. For example: Q: Why did you disconnect the door bell? A: I want the no-bell prize (Nobel Prize). The word “no-bell prize” has the same sound like the word “Nobel Prize”, and this makes the answer a sense of humor. 1.5 The rhetoric functions of puns The pun is always favorable to the readers, and it is being used for a long history. At present, pun is used widely in the humorous stories and so on. Its usage often makes the language quite vivid, lively, persuasive and interesting, and it can increase ironic and humorous effect. 1) English puns are vivid and persuasive. English pun is vivid and persuasive; it can make the advertisements brief, meaningful, humorous, and leave deep impression on the customers. For example: Try our sweet corn. You?ll smile from ear to ear. This is an advertisement of sweet corn. In this sentence, “ear” not only means “ear”, but also means “wheat”. So “ear to ear” can express one meaning “eat one after another corn”, on the other hand, we can understand it as “pleased ear to ear”. It describes people’s pleasant mood after eating corn vividly and try to persuade people to buy their products. 2) English puns can increase ironic effect. English pun also has the satiric effect; it can deepen the personality of characters, and satirize the society. And it makes people think deeply after reading. 55 For example: On Sunday they pray for you and on Monday they prey on you. In this example, “prey” and “pray” sound alike but they have their own original meanings. According to the customs in the western countries, people often go to the church to make the pray on Sunday, while arrives Monday, these bureaucrats and the great capitals will bully the common people instead. This sentence is full of satire, and exposes the veil of western social hypocrites. 3) English Puns are humorous, which can strengthen the language force. English pun is very popular in many types of writing. The most notable feature is its humorous and witty effect, and it can make the language more infectious. For example: Then there was the man in the restaurant. “You?re not eating your fish,” the waitress said to him, “Anything wrong with it?” “Long time no sea.” the man replied. This is a widespread short story. Among them, “sea” and “see” have the same sound. The customer’s answer seems like to be “Long time no see”, just like the greeting of two Chinese friends with a long separation. It actually refers to “Long time no sea”, and complains the fish is not fresh for leaving the sea too long. Customer uses the homophone pun cleverly, not only says hello to the waitress, but also makes criticism of the restaurant’s food. Especially, he expresses his dissatisfaction. It’s very infectious. 4) Puns are quick-witted, which can make atmosphere easy. English pun is quick-witted, it can make atmosphere not so serious, and make people accept it easily. For example: Six-year-old Linda returned unimpressed from her school first day at school. Asked how she got on, she replied, “every morning, we all have to sit at our desks and when the teacher calls our names, we have to answer „prisoner?!” Students have to reply “present” when teachers call their names in the class. However, the word “prisoner” sound like “present”. From this joking, we can feel the fact that 66 the students are full of discontentment and complain about the life in the school, it makes the readers laugh and makes the atmosphere is not so serious. 1.6 The application of English puns 1) The use of puns in advertising Nowadays, advertising is an important part in human’s life, and its goal is to attract a customer’s attention to the product and induce them to buy it. In order to enhance the attraction of an advertisement, the choice of words or phrases becomes more important. There are many rhetorical vehicles used in advertisement, and puns are particular favorable to it. Many companies use humorous effect to attract customers to buy their products easily. Thus, pun is very popular in advertisement. For example: Money does not grow on trees, but it blossoms at our Branches----Lioyd Bank It is the advertisement of Lioyd Bank. “Branch” means “part of a tree growing out from the trunk”, but here it implies the division of bank. This advertisement encourages people to store their money in Lioyd Bank, and their money will be like the blooming flowers, yielding better fruits. Readers figure out that their money will become more day by day, just like the flowers in the spring and fruits in autumn. 2) The use of puns in non-commercial actions Puns can make the lectures and slogans much more attractive and persuasive. For example: If we don?t hang together, we shall hang separately. This sentence is said by Benjamin Franklin, a famous American politician. Its aim is to call out people to hang together to fight for the freedom of the country. 3) The use of puns in word games and riddles The riddles often use extended puns, which make the riddles more interesting and humorous. For example: Why is the river rich? Because it always has two banks. 77 In this sentence, “bank” means “river bank”, but this word also has the meaning of “depositing money”, so naturally, the river is very rich. 4) The use of puns in literature There are many rhetorical devices used in literature works. Pun has become a common one. For example: Mr. Rochester continued blind the first two years of our union: perhaps it was that circumstance that drew us so very near ----that knit us so very close; for I was then his vision, as I am still his right hand. Literally, I was (what he often called me) the apple of his eye. He saw nature----he saw books through me. (Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre) The phrase “the apple of his eye” has two meanings, first one is the favorable thing of person, and the second one is pupil of one’s eyes. Since Mr. Rochester is blind, Jane reads for him and describes everything to him. She is the pupil of Mr. Rochester. And, Mr. Rochester loves Jane, so she is also his favorable person. 2. Speech Act Theory and English Puns English philosopher Austin published the famous theory—Speech Act Theory in the 1950s, which has a great influence to the development of language in later time. The core of this theory is: the aim of people using language is not only to speak and express a kind of thought, but also to realize a certain goal — to do things with words. Austin conclude three acts from a whole speech act, they are: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act. On the basic of Austin’s theory, Searle developed the Speech Act Theory. He divided the speech act into four types: utterance act; propositional act; illocutionary act; perlocutionary act. When people use the Speech Act Theory, most naturally apply it to the normal discourse. But I think we also can use this theory to analyze puns. Puns’ basic idea is to use one word to express different meanings. Since meaning is not single, there are 88 implications. The pun, as a rhetorical device, makes great influence in advertisements, so I choose some advertisements as the examples. Everything will be new in this century. This is the advertisement of Buick car. “Century” always means “the time of 100 years”, but here it is also the brand of this car. New things usually attract customers’ attention. Make your every hello a real good-buy. This is an advertisement made by the phone company. “Good-buy” has the same sound with “good-bye”. The real meaning of this advertisement is that if you use our phone, it will be an excellent choice. 3. Theory of Conversational Implicature and Puns Grice’s Theory of Conversational Implicature has been the popular topic in the linguistic field. In our daily communication, there is always an implicature in our discourse. The conversational implicature means the implied intention of the speaker and the listeners’ understanding to the implied meaning. Therefore, we must take the context in account to investigate the real meaning of the discourse. Theory of Conversational Implicature has a general principle—Cooperation Principle, and four maxims—Maxim of Quantity, Maxim of Quality, Maxim of Relation, and Maxim of Manner. Generally, the conversational implicature is divided into ordinary ones and special ones. If people conform to the maxims, then they would make ordinary implicatures. If not, then special implicatures—intention which needs the listener analyze for understanding, would be produced. 1) The violation of the maxim of quantity Conforming to this maxim means involving the necessary information needed for the conversation aim, and not including extra information. Sometimes, advertisements will go against this maxim. For example: Have you seen the Globe today? 99 This is an advertisement of the “Globe”. We may feel strange when we first saw this line, because it does not tell us any useful information of the product. Apparently, the author goes against the maxim of quantity, since readers can not get information they want. In this advertisement, the maker uses a question to attract people’s attention. “globe” in this sentence does not only mean “the earth”, but also the name of the paper. The implied meaning of this sentence is that the producer wants people read their newspaper everyday. 2) The violation of the maxim of quality This maxim asks people not to say anything that they know is false and anything without enough proofs. However, the advertisers always exaggerate their own products to make consumers to believe in the excellence of the products. E.g.: Every kid should have an apple after school. This is the advertisement of the Apple Company. The exquisite part of this advertisement is to link the fruit “apple” with the computer brand “apple”. The adviser try to say that kids should use the “apple” computer after school, just as they have better have an apple after school. 3) The violation of the maxim of relation The demand of this maxim is to make sure that contents involved is connected in communication. For example: Less bread. No jam. This is an advertisement of London subway. Literally, it means “eat less bread, and don’t need jam”. It seems that there is not any connection with the subway. “Bread” can also mean “money”, and “jam” can means “traffic jam”. So the real meaning of this advertisement is “Spend less, no traffic jam”, and this is just the benefit of the subway. 4) The violation of the maxim of manner Complying with this maxim, we should talk clearly and concisely, and avoid being obscure, ambiguity, long-winded. We should make sure everything is in order. E.g.: She wants to put her tongue in your mouth. 1010 This line appears in the advertisement only with a middle-aged woman’s picture. We may become very curious about what it try to express. In fact, it’s the advertisement of the Hong Kong Learning Language Center. The word “tongue” not only means “the part in one’s mouth”, but also means “language”. 4. Relevance Theory and Puns Relevance Theory is proposed by French scholar Sperber, D. and English academic Wilson, D. which is the simplification of Grice’s Cooperation Principle. It does a deep research on the guidelines for the relationship of the cooperation principle. It says that the contextual effect and other two principles are the foundation of the Relevance Theory. Those two principles are cognitive principle and communicative principle. The Relevance Theory suggests that communication is a process of ostensive inference, a cognitive process for the audience to identify the communicator’s intention. The Relevance Theory not only can be used to analyze the usual discourse, but also can be used to analyze puns. On the point of Relevance Theory, no matter what kind of the pun is, the understanding of the pun is the process in which the listener is searching the best relevance between the discourse and the context. For example: The Sun Sets for Last Time. This is the headline of the news that the English tabloid “The Sun” in Hong Kong stopped publication. “The sun sets” not just means the usual scene of sunset, but also is the metaphor of the news. The process to analyze this sentence is: a. The sun sets for the last time. (vocabulary information) b. This is a news headline. (context information) c. “the sun” has the meaning “the large round body in the sky which gives warmth and light”, and in this line, it is also the name of a English tabloid in Hong Kong. (vocabulary information) d. The tabloid “The Sun” sets for last time. (vocabulary information) e. The tabloid “The Sun” published for last time. (logic information) 1111 f. The tabloid “The Sun” will stop publishing. (logic conclusion) Sagging Spirits in Scotland. This is also a headline. The news is about the Scottish wine business is in depression, and wine factories go bankrupt. In this headline, the writer tried to tell us that not only the output of wine declined, but also the people of this business were in depression. The readers’ process of interpreting this discourse is like this: a. Scotland is in a depression. (vocabulary information) b. This is a news headline. (context information) c. “Spirit” means not only “mood, feeling”, but also “alcohol”. (vocabulary information) d. Scottish wine business is in depression. (vocabulary information) e. Scottish wine business is in depression, thus the wine factories collapse. (logic information) f. Owing to the bankrupt of many wine factories, workers there lose their jobs, they are sad. (logic conclusion) 5. Conclusion As a branch of rhetoric, pun has taken an important role in the language study. We can not look down upon it. With the special characteristic and the historical cultural background of English, it can express the sense of humor, irony and implicit to develop the vividness and meaningful effect. If people can use puns wisely and rightly according to different occasions and objects, then they can not only make the language humorous and vivid, but also reach the effect of ridicule, sarcastic and taunt. And it can help people to fight with their enemies with words. The use of puns in literature works makes the words vivid and implicit. So it can provoke the readers to think deeply of the implicated meaning of the articles. Nowadays, the use of puns has got into many fields of our life; we can not ignore its presence. On the contrary, we should try our best to learn and use it in our daily life. It will really make our discourse more interesting and full of wisdom. 1212 Works Cited Agnes, Michael E. Webster?s New World Dictionary. Pocket, 2003. Cohn, Ronald & Russell, Jesse. 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