MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M. THESIS A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF HUMOR IN MOVIE SCRIPT MONSTERS INC (Phân tích tính hài hước trong kịch bản phim công ty quái vật qua ngữ dụng học) NGUYEN THI NHU TRANG Field: English Language Code: 8.01 Hanoi-2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M. THESIS A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF HUMOR IN MOVIE SCRIPT MONSTERS INC (Phân tích tính hài hước trong kịch bản phim công ty quái vật qua ngữ dụng học) NGUYEN THI NHU TRANG Field: English Language Code: 8.01 Supervisor: Tran Thi Le Dung. PhD Hanoi-2023 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF HUMOR IN MOVIE SCRIPT MONSTERS INC (Phân tích tính hài hước trong kịch bản phim công ty quái vật qua ngữ dụng học) submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2023 NGUYEN THI NHU TRANG Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date: ………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a long journey for me to finish my thesis. There are also many people who walked along with me to support and motivate me during the time of doing the research. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Tran Thi Le Dung.
PhD, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher. A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers of the M.A course at Hanoi Open University and many others, without their supports and encouragements it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work. ii ABSTRACT This research is carried out to investigate linguistic factors that contribute to the comedic effect in the movie script for Monsters, Inc.
The objectives of this research are to evaluate maxims in the movie script Monsters Inc flout in order to make fun and characterize the types of humor that result from maxim flouting. In this study, humor in Movie Script Monsters Inc is examined conceptually in the framework theory of Grice's conversational maxims which are based on Grice's cooperative principle. The research is mainly carried out through the support of qualitative, quantitative and descriptive approach. The data such as words, phrases, clauses, and sentences was found as the form of utterances.
Data contexts were conversations in movie script Monsters, Inc. According to the study's findings, this research reveals two findings. First, the characters in Monsters Inc movie script disobey all kinds of rules in an effort to make funny. The maxims of quality flouting, quantity flouting, relation flouting and manner flouting are listed here.
Second, unintentional conversational humor which predominates in everyday speech is portrayed through the film. This includes irony, sarcasm, overstatement, teasing, clever reply to serious statement, replies to rhetorical questions and pun. Finally, the study was concluded to demonstrate the benefit of humor in daily life. Therefore, it not only aids English learners but also enables them to reach the outside world and broaden their knowledge of several languages.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CR : Clever replies to serious statements I : Irony MM : Maxim of Manner MQl : Maxim of Quality MQt : Maxim of Quantity MR : Maxim of Relation O : Overstatement P : Pun RR : Replies to rhetorical question Sr : Sarcasm T : Teasing iv LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1 Analytical construct. Flouting maxim of quality. Flouting maxim of quantity. Flouting maxim of relation.
Flouting maxim of manner. Types of maxim flouting and forms .47 v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims and objectives of the study. Aims of the study.
Objectives of the study. Methodology of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Structure of the study. 7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Review of previous studies. Review of theoretical background.
Pragmatic of humor. 30 CHAPTER 3: HUMOR IN MOVIE SCRIPT MONSTERS INC. Humor created through flouting maxim of quality. Humor created through flouting maxim of quantity.
Humor created through flouting maxim of relation. Humor created through flouting maxim of manner. Findings of maxim flouting and forms of humor. Limitations of the current research.
55 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Throughout daily life, humor plays a significant role. Humor is a universally understood language. It lowers barriers between people.
If you can laugh together, then you have a connection with that person. As the walls are broken down, the urge to carry on the dialogue rises. Humor is a powerful and effective means of communication because it dismantles barriers. If humor is skillfully camouflaged as delight, it may successfully smuggle new ideas into people's hearts.
Any conversation is greatly enhanced with a good laugh. Therefore, humor can be used as a technique to improve relationships and informal interactions among the people who utilize it. Since humor may be used to ease tension, weariness, and fatigue in modern situations, it is crucial to understand its uses. A speaker can express the truth subtly and gracefully while employing comedy without upsetting anyone by doing so.
Every hilarious circumstance should try to amuse viewers and make them laugh as this is the main purpose of humor. Although humor serves a variety of societal purposes, its primary use is to make others laugh, entertain, or feel good. The main purposes of humor in conversation, according to Attardo [2], are outcomes that the speaker can obtain directly by incorporating hilarious passages or segments into his or her discourse. People are able to find humor in almost any situation, but not with everyone.
Since humor is such a personal thing, what some people find funny, others may find outrageous. Humor then becomes problematic. Culture has an impact on the phenomena of humor. Every community or culture has its own distinctive and distinctively different sorts of comedy.
Humor aids in the understanding of social mores and attitudes. As a result, comedy is something that cannot be shared between nations. What may be funny to someone from one region may not be at all funny to someone from another. A person's interpretation, moderated by the cultural environment, determines whether or not they grasp the joke.
According to Felsch [11], comedy frequently differs by locale and is difficult to translate across cultural boundaries. Because comedy frequently depends on context, someone who does not comprehend the context is likely to find humor incomprehensible. Even though people from other countries may have problems comprehending it, American 1 comedy is one of the best-known types of humor. Using humor as a communication technique is particularly common in America.
American humor differs from British humor in that it is unique. Despite speaking the same language, Americans and Britons do not have the same values when it comes to comedy. Because of the cultural contrasts between America and Britain, American humor tends to be more slapstick in nature. The comedy in America is more overt and direct.
On the other hand, British jokes typically have a subtly dark or satirical undertone. According to Marwick [21], British people have employed comedy as a form of social or political commentary or protest. It encourages British people to use politics and society as amusing themes. Over the years, there has been a lot of work done on the linguistics of comedy.
In this case, a few possible approaches to look at are the semiotic approach, sociolinguistic approach, stylistic approach, and pragmatic approach. Humor is viewed by the pragmatic community as an infringement on Grice's Cooperative Principle. It is crucial to conduct a deeper investigation of humor production applying the Cooperative Principle's philosophical framework since hilarious phrases are created by maxim-flouting the Cooperative Principle. Due to people's ability to subjectively judge humor, it might be interpreted as either hilarious or offensive.
Humor does not go against the Cooperative Principle in the same way that other modes of communication, like lying, do. People often enjoy being amused, and conversations, business dealings, and other everyday encounters frequently include large amounts of humor. As a result, humor is no longer viewed as a poor communication technique like lying, but rather as an essential component of discussion. In the course of a typical day, people encounter a range of humor that is conveyed in different ways and serves a variety of functions.
Some humor, according to Martin [20], reaches people through the media. In addition to the regular jokes and witty remarks broadcast on radio, individuals can find humor through newspaper comic strips and cartoons, comedies, light reading, stand-up comedy, political satire, blooper shows, comedies, and comedies. Politicians, religious leaders, motivational speakers, and educators frequently use humor in their speeches, sermons, and lectures. As closely related phenomena as humor and the media are, it might be challenging to address one without also addressing the other.
The media is full with hilarious language, from cartoons and comic strips to Internet jokes, amusing ads, comedies, and witty editorial and opinion piece comments. 2 In this study, the researcher will examine how the cooperative principle is violated in a movie's conversation. According to Grice, four guiding ideas form the foundation of the cooperation principle: the maxims of quality, quantity, relationships, and manners. Flouting is the term used to describe breaking the maxims rule.
In comedic situations, the breaking of maxims is also common. Metaphor, irony, tautology, sarcasm, exaggeration, banter, understatement, overstatement, and rhetorical questions are all examples of flouting. According to Attardo [2] when more than one of Grice's cooperative principle maxims are violated, it includes many amusing encounters. That is, in the course of a discourse, speakers may intentionally break the rules of cooperation in an effort to get a rise out of their listeners.
The study's data, which relates to the formation of amusing thoughts of the cooperative principle, was taken from the Monsters, Inc. This data obtained is sufficient and can be used to predict the consequences of disobeying the principle of cooperation. The major goal of the discussion is to demonstrate how the Monsters Inc script violate the cooperative principle. A computer-animated comedy film about monsters called Monsters Inc was made by Pixar Animation Studio for Walt Disney Pictures and released in the United States in 2001.
Monsters, Incorporated is another name for Monsters, Inc. The film's screenplay was written by Andrew Stanton and Daniel Gerson, and it was directed by Pete Docter. The two monsters at the core of the movie are Mike Wazowski (Crystal), Mike Wazowski's one-eyed sidekick and the hairy James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (Goodman), who both work for the energy-producing factory Monsters, Inc, which terrifies children to create power.
Monsters are required to terrify children and elicit screams from them so that additional electricity may be generated for the metropolis. However, the children are poisonous to the monsters, and after one of the children escapes, two of the monsters have the realization that things might not be as they think they are. In this film, there is a mixed variety of humorous examples. Verbal sarcasm and comedic circumstances were two strategies employed to demonstrate funny effect in the movie.
As a result, we may use these when studying, instructing, and utilizing the English language in daily life, particularly in conversations. If students like learning English through movies, they might not feel bored.