The Study of Humorous Effects Achieved by ViolatingCooperative Principle in Sitcom The Big Bang Theory

【Abstract】Verbal humor as the main form of humor is commonly seen in daily life. This paper focuses on verbal humor in American sitcom Big Bang Theory based on Grices cooperative Principle and its maxims. The research question are as following： 1.How does verbal humor generate through the violation of CP and its four maxims？ 2. Do people violate the CP unconsciously or on purpose？

【Key words】Cooperative principle； Verbal humor； Situation comedy

【作者簡介】谢璐（1993-），女，汉族，江西赣州人，海南大学，外国语言学及应用语言学专业在读硕士，研究方向：语用学。

1. Introduction

Since Grice put forward cooperative principle， many scholars have applied this principle in daily conversation. Humor， as a very common language feature， can also be found in daily communication. With the development of pragmatics， people try to connect humor with CP. This paper focuses on how does humor generate through the violation of CP and its four maxims.

When we talk， we not always try to cooperate with listeners， and we may violate the cooperative principle. Hence， the significance of the research are as following：1. By analyzing the violation of CP in American Sitcom The Big Bang Theory， the thesis will help Chinese audiences fully understand how humor is generated and then enjoy watching other American sitcoms and American humor. 2. The thesis may inspire people to talk in a humorous way in our daily life and make the conversation atmosphere happier and more relaxed.

The first season of Big Bang Theory was thought to be the most typical one， so the data resources are randomly selected from it. The standard of choosing suitable data from the first season is that when it comes to a humorous point in the sitcom there will be background audiences laughter so the conversational discourse will be collected as data of this paper.

2. Theoretical Foundation

Cooperative Principle， In 1975 the language philosopher H. P. Grice published a seminal article entitled “The Cooperative Principle”. Grice noticed that in daily conversations people do not usually say things directly but tend to imply them.

Grices CP， in which he develops the concept of implicature， is essentially a theory about how people use language（Levinson， 2001）. Grice（1975） believes that there are some mechanisms governing the production and comprehension of our utterances. He suggests that there is a set of assumptions guiding the conduct of conversation， which is what he calls the Cooperative Principle， or CP for short. Grice（1975：45） proposed that participants in conversation should “ Make your conversational contribution as is required， at the stage at which it occurs， by the accepted purpose or direction of the exchange in which you are engaged.”

To specify the CP further， Grice introduced four categories of maxims： the maxim of quantity， the maxim of quality， the maxim of relation， the maxim of manner.

3. Analysis： Typical conversations violating CP in The Big Bang Theory

3.1The violation of Quantity Maxim

（1）Penny moved to the apartment and became Leonard and Sheldons new neighbor. They were greeting to each other. Leonard and Sheldon think Penny is beautiful and charming.

Leonard： We dont mean to interrupt you. We live across the hall.

Penny： Oh， thats nice.

Leonard： We dont live together. I mean...we live together， but in separate， heterosexual bedrooms.

Analysis： After introducing that he and Sheldon live together， Leonard added more information in order to explain that he and Sheldon are not homosexuals. Here he violates the maxim of quantity for giving more information. Given that Leonard was a person who is single and expected to find a girlfriend and Penny is attractive， so Leonards explanation is reasonable because he seemed to tell Penny he is single and he can be a good choice as a boyfriend， which will be proved in later story. Whats more， homosexuals are very common， thus people tend to regard two men who live together as homosexuals， thats another reason makes the audience laughing.

3.2 The Violation of Quality Maxim

（2） Sheldon and Leonard heard that Penny was singing a song.

Leonard： What the hell is that？

Sheldon： I dont know， but if cats could sing， theyd hate it， too.

Analysis： Leonard and Sheldon were walking upstairs while Penny was singing w song. Sheldon said if cat can sing a song they would hate it， but his assertion is unsubstantiated since cat can not sing a song so there is no prof. Thus Sheldon violates the maxim of quality and what he said lacks adequate evidence. In fact， Sheldon used a irony to made a comment on Pennys song and he is conscious. When irony was made， the audience tend to laugh.

3.3 The Violation of Relation Maxim

（3） The background is the same as example （1）， and the woman stopped play game and asked the question.

Woman： Can I help you？

Leonard： Yes.（awkward and hesitating）

Leonard： Ah...Is this the high-iq sperm bank？

Woman： If you have to ask， maybe you shouldnt be here.

Sheldon： I think this is the place.

Analysis： In this example when Learned asked the woman “Is this the high-iq sperm bank？”， the womans answer seemed not be relevant to the question which violates the maxim of relation. If the woman obeyed the maxim of CP， she may said： Yes， it is. But she didnt and she answered with an irony on purpose to show she was annoying by Leonards interruption and stupid question. At that time， humor was generated.

3.4 The Violation of Manner Maxim

（4）At Pennys home， She need to practice mixing drinks so she invited Sheldon＼ Leonard， Howard and Rajesh to taste the drinks.

Penny： Sheldon， what are you going to have？

Sheldon： Ill have a diet coke.

Penny： Can you please order a cocktail？ I need to practice mixing drinks.

Sheldon： Fine. Ill have a virgin cuba libre.

Penny： Thats rum and coke without the rum.

Sheldon： Yes.

Penny： So coke？

Sheldon： Yes. And would you make it diet？

Penny： Theres a can in the fridge.

Analysis： When Penny asked Sheldon what kind of mixing drinks he wants to drink， but Sheldon insisted on diet coke. When Penny told Sheldon he can only choose cocktail， Sheldon did not answer directly. He said Ill have a virgin cuba libre which is a kind of drinks mixed by rum and coke and sometimes without rum just coke. Actually， here Sheldon meant that he want a cup of coke but he try to say it with unclear expression， so he violates the maxim of manner and he is on purpose.

4. Conclusion

To sum up， when people violate the CP， the context is an important element that determines the humorous point. And at most of the time， people violate the CP on purpose， but sometimes， they also do that unconsciously and can hardly find out what was wrong.

References：

[1]Grice，H.P.Logic and Conversation.In Cole， P.&Morgan;，J.L.（eds.）Syntax and Semiotics 3：Speech Acts[M].New York：Academic Press， 1975：41-58.

[2]Stephen C.Levinson. Pragmatics[M].Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，2001：101.