为什么有些隐喻很幽默?——幽默隐喻之原因探析

Why Are Some Metaphors Humorous?——An exploration of why some metaphors are humorous

隐喻与幽默的研究由来已久,哲学家亚里士多德既研究了隐喻,也提到了荒诞可笑的幽默。Koestler的异类联想理论最早认为隐喻与幽默基于同样的工作机制,但是并没有深入分析。至于隐喻的幽默效果,Dynel等"距离理论"的几个代表学者主要关注本体和喻体之间的语义距离,将隐喻的矛盾性和创造性视为其背后的机制。基于束定芳的隐喻语义特征分析,认为模糊性同样是构成隐喻幽默效果的重要因素。此外,结合幽默研究权威Raskin的语义脚本理论,证明了隐喻同样含有脚本重叠与脚本对立,而这两者是构成幽默的充分必要条件。最后,借用已故哲学家Umberto Eco对于隐喻会违反合作原则四个次准则的论断,认为隐喻对合作原则的违反同样是构成其幽默效果的重要来源。

The study of metaphor and humor has a long history.Greek philosopher Aristotle once studied humor as well as pointed out some absurd metaphors.Koestler argued in his bisociation theory that humor and metaphor are based on the same mechanism,but he failed to give a detailed account.As to humorous effects of metaphor,some representatives of"distance theory"like Dynel mainly focus on the semantic distance between the tenor and the vehicle and see the contradiction and creativity of metaphor as the underlying mechanism of humorous metaphor.Based on Shu Dingfang's analysis of semantic features of metaphor,it is argued that vagueness also contributes to creating humorous metaphor.In addition,according to Raskin's Semantic Script Theory of Humor(SSTH),metaphor is also characterized by semantic overlap and semantic opposition,two sufficient and essential conditions for humor.Finally,as the late philosopher Umberto Eco once argued that metaphor could violate all the four maxims of Cooperative Principle,and the violation of Cooperative Principle is a significant source of humorous metaphor.