Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 A general description of English puns and Chineseshuangguan 1
1.2 Significance of studying English puns and Chineseshuangguan 8
1.3 Objectives of the present study 13
1.4 Research methodology and theoretical framework 14
1.5 Organization of the book 15
Chapter 2 Survey of the Literature 17
2.1 Introduction 17
2.2 Multidimensional approaches to the study of English puns 18
2.2.1 A rhetorical approach 18
2.2.2 A semantic approach 19
2.2.3 A relevance-theoretic approach 23
2.3 Major approaches to the study of Chineseshuangguan 30
2.3.1 A rhetorical approach 30
2.3.2 A semantic approach 32
2.3.3 A pragmatic approach 34
2.3.4 A comparative approach 37
2.4 Summary 41
Chapter 3 A Prototype-based Approach to English Puns and Chinese Shuangguan 43
3.1 Introduction 43
3.2 Prototype theory as the theoretical foundation 44
3.3 English puns:Prototypical and non-prototypical uses 48
3.4 Chinese shuangguan:Prototypical and non-prototypical uses 60
3.5 Towards a unified definition of pun in both English and Chinese 79
3.6 Summary 84
Chapter 4 Formal and Semantic Analyses of Puns in Chinese and English Talk Shows 87
4.1 Introduction 87
4.2 The data 89
4.2.1 The rationale for the choice of data from talk shows 89
4.2.2 Characteristics of the face-to-face oral communication in talk shows 91
4.2.3 Description of the data 93
4.3 A formal analysis of puns:Four prominent modes of punning 95
4.3.1 An overview of previous studies on modes of punning 95
4.3.2 Four prominent modes of punning used in talk shows 99
4.4 A semantic analysis of puns:Transparent,semi-transparent and opaque puns 125
4.5 Summary 135
Chapter 5 A Unified Account of Pun Processing 138
5.1 Introduction 138
5.2 Relevance theory 140
5.3 The graded salience hypothesis 145
5.4 Context 150
5.5 Interpretation of transparent puns 154
5.5.1 Linguistic and pragmatic features of transparent puns 154
5.5.2 Processing of transparent puns 156
5.6 Interpretation of semitransparent puns 163
5.6.1 Linguistic and pragmatic features of semitransparent puns 163
5.6.2 Processing of semitransparent puns 166
5.7 Interpretation of opaque puns 186
5.7.1 Linguistic and pragmatic features of opaque puns 186
5.7.2 Processing of opaque puns 189
5.8 Effects of different contextual cues 202
5.9 Summary 218
Chapter 6 Conclusion 223
6.1 Major findings of the present study 223
6.2 Theoretical and practical implications 232
6.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research 235
Appendix 237
References 242