An Analysis of the Verbal Humor in Desperate Housewives by Cooperative Principle

羅麗琴

【Abstract】Humorous language is a very important part of language communication. This paper analyzes the causes of humorous language from the perspective of cooperative principle， and helps people to further perceive verbal humor in film and television works by taking the humorous dialogues from American sitcom Desperate Housewives as an example.

【Key words】verbal humor； cooperative principle； Desperate Housewives

Humor， as a language phenomenon， frequently appears in the literature， film， television and daily exchanges. Desperate Housewives is a mirror which is a reflection of the American life. In order to better understand American culture， we need a better understanding of the typical humor in the United States. This article try to analysis the verbal humor from the principles of Grice Cooperation Principle.

Cooperative Principle

American philosopher Grice first proposed this principle in his speech of logic and conversation in 1967. Grices cooperative principle includes four maxims：the maxim of the quantity. The utterance should contain the information which is needed for the purpose of the conversation and should not contain the information which is beyond the needs；the maxim of quality. Speakers should not say false words and speakers should not mention lack of sufficient evidence words；the maxim of relation. The utterance should be relevant；the maxim of manner. The conversation contribution is to avoid obscure， avoid ambiguity， and is concise， well-organized （戴煒棟， 何兆熊， 2002：77） .

If everyone in the conversation is strict and compliance with these four maxims， they can carry out the most efficient and reasonable language communication. The reason for the highest efficiency is that the speakers say straightly that what they want to say. The listeners do not have to do any reasonable explanations so that it can be the most convenient and most quickly ways to understand each others words. In the communication， if one part intentionally or unintentionally violates one or several maxims， the communicative effect is bound to be affected. It easily leads to the speakers subjective intention and objective effect is inconsistent. And this inconsistency is caused by humor.

An Analysis of Verbal Humor in Desperate Housewives Caused by the Violation of Cooperative Principle

Desperate Housewives is a soap opera that the United States ABC radio station launched in 2004. The TV series is about the life of the four housewives who are representatives of American middle class women in Wisteria Lane. The play has been well received by the audience since the play broadcast. So far， It has been photographed the eighth season. One of the reasons is that the characters in the play are humorous and the words are hilarious. From the pragmatic point of view， this humor violates the principle of cooperation， but creates a humorous effect. Here， we use the theory of cooperation to analyze some humorous languages in the play.

（1） Violation of quantity maxim

Quantity maxim specifies that the sufficient information that should be provided when the two speakers are talking. The speakers talk neither too much nor say too little， that is， the speakers know how much to say， but the one part cannot say something that the other part does not expect to say or does not ask to come out. Therefore， the violation of the quantity maxim will appear two cases. One is that the speaker provides the amount of information which is insufficient in the process of verbal communication. The other one is the speaker provides too much information. In both cases， verbal communication will appear implied meanings， and it is also the reason for the effect of humor.

Example 1：

Photoman：Excuse me， time is money. Chop- chop， sweetie. （Put the pie on Brees hand and then go away）

Bree：Andrew， do we have a backup pie？

Andrew：Yes， yes. We do.（Then she walks towards the photoman.）

（Cherry， 2008：Season5， Episode1）

When the photographer once again called Bree dear， Bree was really angered. She would ask his son whether there was a backup pie for propaganda. Her son said of course. So Bree took the pie in her hand walking to the photographer. Brees speech to his son violated the maxim of quantity .Because she just asked if there is spare pie to send， but did not say how she intended to deal with the set of pie in her hand.

（2） Violation of quality maxim

The lack of information or much information will lead to humor in the conversation. Similarly， if the content of the speech lack of basis or even is completely untrue， it will also violate the quality maxim and often produce humor.

Example 2：

Scene：Susan wanted to take Mr. Zellers painting class. Susan said she had illustrated several childrens books. Some of which were best-sellers. She had confidence in that Mr. Zeller would accept her as a student. But Mr. Zeller thought Susan is afraid of ugliness and her picture is shallow and lacks passion. He thought art should express peoples deep， even dark feelings.

Mr. Zeller：Do you have any work that reflects what Ive been talking about？

Susan：Of course， I do. I will bring it in tomorrow. I would bring it in now， but I

have to pick up my son. （Then she was leaving. Suddenly， she turned back and said to Mr. Zeller）

Susan：From prison.

（Cherry， 2011：Season8， Episode4）

Susan wanted to enroll in the famous painter Mr. Zellers art class and she showed her paintings to Mr. Zeller and said that she had painted illustrations for some childrens books. But Mr. Zeller thought her work was too shallow and was not critical， also could not reflect the humans dark， ugly heart. Susan was very angry and said that she would bring another works which reflected the dark side of the world tomorrow. Because there is no time today， she would pick up her son and turned away. Then she turned back and added to the prison son. Obviously， she violated the principle of quality. Susans son was in school rather than prison. Susan deliberately stressed his son from prison. On the one hand， the conversation was full of a sense of humor；on the other hand， she ridiculed the Mr. Zeller. If in his eyes， the school is not a school but a prison.

（3） Violation of manner maxim

The manner maxim require people be concise， well-organized and clear， avoid obscure， ambiguous as much as possible in the conversation（Levinson SC， 1983：56）. However， in the communication， two sides inevitably misunderstand others original intention of the situation. Sometimes， speakers intend to speak vague， ambiguous or upside down out of courtesy or other reasons. Meanwhile， humor will be born.

Example 3：

Bree：We do not fight in this house with pillows made of hand- dyed silk. Now I am gonna count to three， one…… two…… Do you know what happens after three？

Juanita：four.

Bree：Put the pillows down.

（Cherry， 2005：Season2， Episode6）

Bree wants the children to stop slamming but the children do not listen. Bree will threaten that children have to stop when she arrives three times. The children are still playing in full swing. Bree says：“you do know what will happen if I have finished three？” Juanita replied：“four”. Bree does not express clearly what he wanted to say. It is clear that this euphemism does not apply to the children at all.

（4） Violation of relation maxim

In the principle of cooperation， the relation maxim requires that both sides of the conversation say the words which are related to the topic. For example， one said the East， the other said West， or one does not answer the others question. The communication is bound to difficult to be formal， but also often leads to funny results， humor effect.

Example 4：

Scene：Chuck asked Bree to have a walk together， but Bree said she had to change her clothes firstly. In fact， Bree lied to chuck and she went upstairs to call Gaby instead of changing clothes.

Chuck：I thought you were gonna change.

Bree：I did. My attitude， I didnt want to go， but now I do.

（Cherry， 2005：Season2， Episode22）

In the conversation， Chuck saw Bree not changing clothes， and asked curiously she thought Bree would change clothes. Bree said she just went upstairs for a change of mood. She just did not want to go for a walk. In fact， changing clothes and changing mood is not important. Bree just lies and does not want to tell the truth.

Conclusion

Humor is an indispensable part of peoples life. Humorous language is the choice of the speaker， and it is a kind of high intelligence wit， which is a manifestation of the joy of the world. Verbal humor is not a straightforward expression， but implies in the discourse， which requires the use of reasonable pragmatic to understand special meaning of words. Desperate Housewives， this drama language is authentic， humorous， and is welcomed by domestic English learners. It is helpful to explain the understanding of the inherent plot of the film and television works. Meanwhile， it helps us have a deep understanding of the theory of conversational meaning.

However， it is not possible to elaborate on all aspects of humor by explaining the meaning of humor from the perspective of cooperative principle. In pragmatics， there are also other theories. Such as， speech act theories， politeness principle， relevance theory and so on. They all have studied humor. Humor is also affected by other factors， such as history， culture， society， education， character and gender. More studies should be done to better understand from a multi-angle in the future.

References：

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[4]謝亞軍.對英語語言幽默的語用解讀—從合作原則到關聯理論[J].語言語用研究，2007（7）：78-80.