Humour and (Im)Politeness in Chinese Sitcom Discourse
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Humour and (Im)politeness in Chinese Sitcom Discourse: A Case Study of Ipartment Ying Cao A thesis presented to the Western Sydney University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2019 © Ying Cao 2019 To my Mum and Grandma ii Acknowledgement It has been an exciting and rewarding journey to write this thesis. I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the support of my supervisors, my family and other people. I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Chong Han, Dr. Xiangdong Liu, and Dr. Adrian Hale. Without their support and guidance, this thesis might not have been completed. I am most deeply indebted to Dr. Chong Han and Dr. Xiangdong Liu. They were always willing to look deeply into any problems encountered, always with a push to keep the flow of research moving. I have benefited immensely from their guidance, expertise, as well as their critical and encouraging comments. I wish to also express my sincerely gratitude to my associate supervisor, Dr. Adrian Hale for his insightful comments, his instructions on how to conduct data analysis and his refinement of the writing of the whole thesis. There are also many other people deserving thanks for this thesis. First, my sincere gratitude goes to Professor Jessica Milner Davies, at the University of Sydney, for her encouragement and instructive reviews of my writings during September 2016 to 2018 in Australasian Network of Humour Study Annual Conference. Second, I would like to thank Dr. Wayne Peake for his strong support and assistance as the administrative staff of the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University during my PhD candidature. Third, special thanks must also go to Dr. Kenny Wang. I deeply appreciate his support and detailed correction of all the Chinese to English translation in my thesis. Forth, I would like to thank Dr. Kyra Giorgi for her professional editing and proofreading of my whole thesis. I deeply appreciated for her suggestions for me on how to write academically. Fifth, my sincere thanks also go to Dr. Xianglang Hou at Hubei University of Economics, for his encouragement and thought-provoking suggestions at the first year of my candidature. You all contributed to my completion of this thesis. iii I wish to also thank my dear friends, Chen Qiu, Fan Zhou, Feilin Liu, and my fellow PhD student, Ruiyuan Wang. Thanks for encouraging me when I encountered difficulties, giving me spiritual support and enriching my boring and lonely life in Sydney. Special thanks go to Fan Zhou for accommodating me in a quiet, clean and beautiful house. I extended my special thanks to Mr. Jerry Zhi and Mrs. Lisa San for encouraging and giving me a part-time job to support my life in Sydney. Finally, I would like to express my deepest love to my mother, Jing Chen. Without her financial and moral support, it would not have been possible for me to have started and completed this thesis. My mother’s first half life is full of difficulties and had to raise me and my brother alone after divorce ever since I was 11-years-old, however, her wisdom, toughness, and insightful and positive views towards life greatly impact my personalities and value. I indebted a deepest gratitude for her moral support and precious life suggestions. I also would like to express my love to my grandmother, Shuixiang Wang and my brother, Yiming Chen, who encouraged me to pursue a higher education. They are motivations for me to study and work hard to strive for a better life for them. iv Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. ------------------------------------------- Ying Cao July 2019 v Table of Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................iii List of Tables.......................................................................................................................................ix List of Figures.....................................................................................................................................xi List of Screenshots............................................................................................................................xii List of Abbreviations......................................................................................................................xiii Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Aims and significance of the study ..................................................................................... 8 1.3 Writing trajectory ............................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 Literature review ........................................................................................... 13 2.1 Humour .................................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.1 Definitions and theories of humour ....................................................................................... 15 2.1.2 Linguistic approaches to humour. ........................................................................................... 26 2.1.2.1 Types of humour .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1.2.1.1 Linguistic forms of humour .................................................................................................... 27 2.1.2.1.2 Aggressive and non-aggressive humour ............................................................................. 29 2.1.2.2 Humour in conversations .................................................................................................................. 37 2.1.2.2.1 Sequential organisation of joke-telling ............................................................................... 38 2.1.2.2.2 Humorous frame, humorous intent and the response to humour ............................... 42 2.1.2.2.3 Functions of humour ................................................................................................................. 46 2.1.2.3 Failed humour ....................................................................................................................................... 49 2.1.2.3.1 The causes of failed humour .................................................................................................. 50 2.1.2.3.2 Responses to failed humour .................................................................................................... 54 2.1.3 Humour and laughter .................................................................................................................. 55 2.1.3.1 Laughter .................................................................................................................................................. 56 2.1.3.2 Canned laughter ................................................................................................................................... 59 2.1.3.3 Humour and laughter .......................................................................................................................... 60 2.1.4 Humour in Chinese ...................................................................................................................... 62 2.2 (Im)politeness studies ......................................................................................................... 66 2.2.1 Face ................................................................................................................................................... 67 2.2.2 Politeness studies ......................................................................................................................... 72 2.2.3 Impoliteness studies .................................................................................................................... 78 2.2.4 The interdependence of humour and (im)politeness ........................................................ 84 2.2.5 Studies of Chinese face and (im)politeness ......................................................................... 89 2.3 Sitcoms: the discourse of fictional conversations ......................................................... 93 2.3.1 Definitions ...................................................................................................................................... 94 2.3.2 Participation framework and humorous intent in sitcoms .............................................. 96 2.3.3 Chinese sitcoms ......................................................................................................................... 101 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 105 Chapter 3 Theoretical frameworks ............................................................................. 107 vi 3.1 Participation framework for sitcoms ..........................................................................