A comparative study of American humor and Chinese humor

• Main Authors: Tine Chia Shin, 田佳鑫
• Other Authors: Dr. Joseph Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/20231526896432541625

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 跨文化研究所語言學碩士班 === 102 === ABSTRACT This thesis investigates how Chinese and Americans tell jokes in their daily lives. Two fundamental perspectives are examined: first, the linguistic strategies used in Chinese and American jokes are discussed; second, the cultural perspectives that influence joke telling, such as values and social organization between two societies are examined. This is a qualitative study which is based on the data taken from published books and the internet in joke-telling. I have read 681 Chinese and American jokes. I selected 168 Chinese jokes and 152 American jokes that employ linguistic strategies, and 163 Chinese jokes and 198 American jokes are from cultural perspectives. The results are : (1) Many of the linguistic jokes in Chinese and American are based on the manipulation of phonological, morphological, semantic, or pragmatic features to produce the humorous effects. (2) The same topics in telling-jokes have different cultural perceptives. (3) Topics of jokes serve as a reflection of the degree of power and intimacy. Through this study, Chinese and Americans can use jokes to make their conversations more sociable and pleasant, and they can improve their mutual understanding in intercultural interactions.