Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Rationale 3
1.2 Research Methods 4
1.3 Outline 5
1.4 Research Findings 7
Chapter 2 Literature Review 9
2.1 Definition of Humor 9
2.2 A Brief History of Humor and Humor Studies in the West 11
2.3 Humor and Humor Studies in Chinese History 17
2.4 Theories of Humor 21
Chapter 3 An Approach to Humor Based on Contextual Dimensions 27
3.1 A Review of Context in Humor 27
3.2 New Development:Contextual Dimensions as the Framework of the Study 29
3.3 Role of Context in Interactive Humor 36
Chapter 4 A Study of Humor in an English Language Situation Comedy—"Friends” 42
4.1 Introduction and Selection Criteria 42
4.2 A Linguistic Analysis of Humor 44
Chapter 5 A Study of Humor in a Chinese Language Situation Comedy—《我爱我家》 107
5.1 Introduction and Selection Criteria 107
5.2 A Linguistic Analysis of Humor 110
Chapter 6 Comparisons and Discussions 152
6.1 Frequency of Humor 152
6.2 Type of Humor(Context) 154
6.3 A Statistical Analysis 158
6.4 Summary and Significance of Findings 160
Chapter 7 Conclusion 163
7.1 Summary of the Findings 165
7.2 Limitations of the Research 168
7.3 Some Thoughts on Future Research 169
Bibliography 170
Appendix A Analytical Statistics of"Friends”—Episode 3-24 177
Appendix B Analytical Statistics of"I Love My Family”—Episode 3-24 185