AnAnalysisofVerbalHumorinAlphaHouseFromtheViolationofCooperativePrincipleAbstract：Humoristhecleveruseoflanguage,widelyexistinginsocialcommunicationandalwaysproducesunexpecteddialogueeffects.Theproductionofverbalhumorisnotonlyrelatedtolanguageitself,butalsotolanguagecommunicationinaspecificsituation.Grice’sCooperativePrinciplepointsoutthatonlyifbothsidesoftheconversationfollowcertainprinciplescantheverbalcommunicationproceedssmoothly,thusachievingthepurposeofdialogue.However,indailylife,peopleoftenintentionallyviolatetheCooperativePrincipleinordertoachievethehumorouseffect.BasedonGrice’sCooperativePrinciple,thispaperanalyzestheverbalhumorinAlphaHousethroughtheviolationofthefourmaxims.ItisdesignedtohelpEnglishlearnersbetterunderstandtheverbalhumorintheplot,correctlyusetherulesandcharacteristicsofhumor,andimprovetheabilityoflanguageexpressionandcommunication.Keywords：CooperativePrinciple；verbalhumor；AlphaHouse1Introduction1.1ResearchbackgroundHumorisaspeciallanguagephenomenonexistinginallkindsofculturalbackground.Itisacriticalpartofourdailylife.Grice’sCooperativePrincipleholdsthatparticipantsshouldfollowsomerulesandprincipleswhentheytendtocommunicateeffectively.Indailylife,inordertoachievehumorouseffect,peoplesometimesviolateCooperationPrincipleonpurpose.AlphaHouseisanAmericanpoliticalsatirewebtelevisionseries.IttellssomestoriesaboutfourRepublicanU.S.SenatorswhoshareahouseinWashington,D.C.ThefourRepublicansenatorsfacere-electionbattles,loomingindictments,andparties—allwithasenseofhumor.Theplotofthiswebtelevisionseriesiswittyandfresh,arousingmoreandmorepeople’sinterest.ThecharactersintentionallyviolatetheCooperativePrincipletoachievehumorouseffect.ThusitissuitabletoanalyzetheverbalhumorinAlphaHousebasedonCooperativePrinciple.1.2LiteraturereviewHumorisasocialartwhichexistseverywhere.Itcannotonlybringlaughterandhappinesstopeople,butalsocreatearelaxedatmosphere,drawclosertoeachotherandavoidembarrassment.Studyabouthumoralsohasarousedgreatrepercussionintheacademicworld.Indailylife,verbalhumorisoftenconnectedwithCooperativePrinciple.Inabroad,theearliestareaofcombininghumorandlinguisticsisinsemantics.0Raskin(1985)proposesSemantic-ScriptTheoryofHumor(SSTH),whichusessemanticscripttosimulatehowjokerecipientsuselinguisticsandworldknowledgetointerpretjoketext,arguingthathumoristheproductofscriptopposition;VictorRaskinandAttardo(1991)proposeTheGeneralTheoryofVerbalHumor(GTVH),whichismoreacceptableandextensive.Itlaystheimportantfoundationforthelaterhumorresearch;Attardo(1993)intendstoexplainthecontradictionofthecommunicativeessenceofjokes.ThisessenceisaviolationofGrice’sCooperativePrinciple;Attardo(1994)proposessixlevelsofKnowledgeResources(KRs):ScriptOpposition(SO),LogicMechanism(LM),Situation(SI),Target(TA),NarrativeStrategy(NS),Language(LA).Fromtheperspectiveofthemajorclassictheories,therearethreetypesoftheoriesabouthumor:thereleasetheory,theincongruitytheoryandthesuperioritytheory;Attardo(1994)pointsoutthatthesethreetheoriescanbeclassifiedinto“social-behavioral”,“psychoanalytical”,and“cognitivecategory”respectively.Athome,WangYongpei(1996)alsomentionsthatthedominantandrecessivecontextsarecatalystsforverbalhumor;YuLilei(1998)studiestherelationshipbetweenhumorandcontext.Shebelievesthatthecharacterandculturalbackgroundofthebigcontextincludingtheparticipantsmainlyindicate...
