美剧台词中的修辞学分析--以《生活大爆炸》为例
难产假-青岛市语言文字网
A brief analysis of the rhetorical devices
in
American situation comedies
-- A case
study of The Big Bang Theory
Time: 290513
ID: 王小亚 1015010302
Abstrast: Rhetorical
devices are widely used in American dramas,
especially in The
Big Bang Theory, a well-
known American sit-com (situation comedy). The
comedy focuses on “science talent”, and it is
full of dialogues with
thousands of science
words. The diction and sentence variety of
difficult
dialogues contribute to the humorous
plots in the comedy. This paper aims
at
analyzing the rhetorical devices frequently used
in The Big Bang Theory,
such as irony,
metaphor, euphemism, repetition, rhetorical
questions and so
on, in order to find out the
reasons for the humorous factors in this
comedy.
Key words: The Big Bang Theory,
rhetorical devices, American sit-coms, humor
摘 要：修辞手法广泛应用于美国情景喜剧中，且在著名美剧《生活大爆炸》中
尤为常见，《
生活大爆炸》以“科学天才”为话题，其对话中包含无数
科学名词，该剧对话中的词语和句型多样性丰富
了剧情的幽默色彩。本
论文旨在通过分析该剧中常用的修辞手法，如反讽、隐喻、委婉、反复
等
，分析出《生活大爆炸》幽默因素背后的原因。
关键词：生活大爆炸；修辞手法；美剧；幽默
Ⅰ.
Introduction
1.1 A brief introduction about
The Big Bang Theory
1.2 A brief introduction
about the main characters
1.3 Language
features of the dialogues in The Big Bang Theory
Ⅱ. Literature review
2.1 Previous studies
on American sit-coms
2.2 Previous studies on
the linguistic features of The Big Bang Theory
Ⅲ. Methodology
Ⅳ. Typical rhetorical
expressions in The Big Bang Theory
4.1 Irony
4.2 Euphemism
4.3 Metaphor
4.4
Repetition
Ⅴ. Conclusion
I.
Introduction:
1.1 A brief introduction about
The Big Bang Theory
A sit-com, a shortened
word of situation comedy, is a genre of comedy
which has
a storyline and ongoing characters
in, essentially, a comedic drama. The situation is
usually that of a family, workplace, or a
group of friends.
The Big Bang Theory is one
of the most popular American dramas around the
world. It is a situation comedy made by CBS
(Columbia Broadcasting System). There
are six
seasons and 142 weekly episodes in total, and all
of them have achieved high
audience rating,
not only in the USA, but also in other countries
in the world. This
comedy describes the daily
life of four scientists and one waitress. They
live on the
same floor in an apartment block
and they are neighbors with close relationship.
1.2 A brief introduction about the main
characters
The main character, Sheldon, is a
talented physical scientist, whose IQ is as high
as 187. However, this science genius is not so
smart in his daily life. He is a
mysophobia,
and he is afraid of being disturbed. Sheldon’s
dorm mate, Leonard, is
also a brilliant
physical scientist. Both of them have extreme high
IQ and poor EQ.
They can easily explain the
science theories in their own research filed, but
hardly
know how to communicate with others.
Another important character is Howard, and he
is one of the best friends of these
two
bookworms. Howard regards himself as a perfect
combination of wisdom and
appearance, and he
has a master’s degree in Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Rajesh is also their best
friend. He is an astronomer who comes from India.
He is
so shy that he does not dare to talk to
a girl without the help of alcohol.
The main
female character in this comedy is a simple girl
named Penny. She
dreams to be a famous
actress, but can only be a waitress in a fast food
restaurant.
Penny is brave and outgoing, and
her characteristic is totally different from the
four
physical scientists.
These people
always gather together at Sheldon’s apartment, and
their lives are
full of laughter.
3
1.3 Language features of the dialogues
in The Big Bang Theory
There are many
dialogues in this comedy. The four scientists’
words are complex
and difficult to understand.
Because of their special position, their dialogues
are full
of science words. Sheldon speaks
logically and directly. Leonard’s words are always
reasonable but ambiguous. Howard talks about
dirty words frequently, while Rajesh
speak in
Indian English. With regards to penny, as a
waitress, she uses simple words
and informal
sentences all the time.
Their dialogues are
humorous and vivid. Every five minutes the
audience will be
cheered up by their funny
words. They use irony, repetition, metaphor and so
on to
mock and satirize against each other.
Ⅱ. Literature review
2.1 Previous
studies on American sit-coms
Situation comedy
id considered as “the most well-informed artistic
form to
audience of contemporary American and
the world” (David Mare, 1984).
Mu Bing
(慕冰，2010) has mentioned that，American sit-coms are
found almost
exclusively on television as one
of its dominant narrative forms which possess some
of their own features:
First, as one of
the closet forms of art to our life, sit-coms
pursue not only the
realness of art, but the
authentically of life. So sit-coms usually consist
of recurring
characters in a common
environment such as a home or workplace and its
contents are
closely related to people’s
everyday life.
Second, most American sit-coms
are generally half-hour programs in which the
story is written to run a total of 22 minutes
in length, leaving 8 minutes for
commercial.
American sit-coms typically have long season runs
of more episodes due
to the way they are
produced.
Third, sit-coms usually include
laugh tracks. A laugh track, also known as
laughter soundtrack, laughter track, LFN
(laughter from nowhere), canned laughter or
laughing audience, is a pre-record effect
inserted into most sit-coms not taped in front
of a live audience. The laugh track is
generally added in post-production—that is,
4
during editing after the show is
taped. Laugh tracks have the same effect with
studio
audiences, with the purpose of telling
the audience when it is time to laugh.
2.2
Previous studies on the linguistic features of The
Big Bang Theory
Being so successful and
popular, The Big Bang Theory has won the
audience’s
favor. As a result, studies and
researches are carried out in many ways from
various
perspectives by many researchers.
Xu Liyan (徐丽艳，2010) has written a paper, in
which Euphemism is explored
to figure out the
effectiveness in sitcoms. She pointed out that
many euphemisms are
adapted in this sit-com,
and this rhetorical device has played an important
role in
building humorous atmosphere.
Besides, Gao Hui (高辉，2010) has studied this
sit-com from the perspective of
pragmatic
theory in order to find out humor, and he
explained the power of language
cooperative
principle in his paper.
At the same time,
Zhang Dongbin (张东宾，2011) has studied the
contractive
analysis of humor in sit-coms
Friends and The Big Bang Theory from the
perspective
of grammatical metaphor. He
compares the two successful sit-coms with each
other
and finds out that grammatical metaphors
are widely used in the dialogues of these
two
comedies.
Zhang Xue (张雪，2012) has written a
paper in which she focuses on the study
on
metaphors in The Big Big Bang Theory from the
cognitive perspective, which has
contributed
to the study of the linguistic features in this
sit-com.
In addition, some scholars have
adapted the relevance theory to explore verbal
humor in this sit-com, as well as the
linguistic humor, cultural humor and universal
humor, so as to have a better understanding on
the linguistic beauty of the dialogues.
Ⅲ. Methodology
All of the dialogues in
this term paper are collected from the famous sit-
com The
big Bang Theory. Firstly, I chose some
episodes which are full of funny dialogues,
and then I watched these episodes as well as
the subtitles carefully, in order to find the
5
most representative examples for
this research.
Because of the special
positions and personal preferences of the main
characters,
there are plenty of words and
phrases which come from various science theories,
computer games, Western culture and history,
etc. therefore, a functional dictionary is
really useful and necessary. At the same time,
resulting from culture difference, some
of the
dialogues are difficult for us Chinese people to
understand. In order to have a
better
understanding of every sentence, I also surfed on
the internet to look into the
symbolic meaning
of some complicated words and vernacular language.
Many English learners and scholars have
studied the linguistic features, choice of
words, sentence structures of the dialogues in
American situation comedies.
Nevertheless, few
of them have managed to analyze the rhetorical
devices in sit-coms,
especially in The Big
Bang Theory. Therefore, I focus on the analysis of
typical
rhetorical devices used in this sit-
com, and try to find out the linguistic reasons
for the
popularity of the successful TV
series.
Ⅳ. Typical rhetorical expressions
in The Big Bang Theory
Rhetorical devices have
been widely used in poetry, novel, drama, lyrics
and so
on, which can strengthen the meaning
and enhance the feeling as well as leaving a
unforgettable impression to the reader.
Nowadays, the terms that have been used for
centuries to describe figurative language in
traditional writings can also be applied to
everyday language and even to American sit-
coms. In this term paper, I will focus on
the
typical rhetorical expressions used in The Big
Bang Theory. I will specifically
illustrate
the use of irony, euphemism, metaphor,
parallelism, hyperbole, repetition
and
rhetorical questions.
4.1 Irony
Mu Bin
(慕宾，2012) pointed out that, in irony the transfer
is to the opposite
meaning within a
semantically linked set. Thus ironically, “bad”
means “good”. The
use of irony is primarily to
convey to the audience an incongruity that is
often used as
a tool of humor in order to
deprecate or ridicule an idea or course of action.
According
6
to the Oxford
English Dictionary, an irony is a figure of speech
in which the intended
meaning is the opposite
of that expressed by the words used; usually
talking the form
of sarcasm or ridicule in
which laudatory expressions are used to imply
condemnation
or contempt.
Example 1,
Episode 2, Season 1
(Penny has asked Leonard
to help her move the furniture into her house.
Leonard
and Sheldon are now standing on the
first floor with the large furniture and
discussing how to bring it up to Penny’s
home.)
Leonard: We will just bring it up by
ourselves.
Sheldon: I hardly think so. Well do
not have a dolly, or lifting belts or any
measurable upper- body strength.
Leonard:
We do not need strength—we are physicists. We are
the intellectual
descendents of Archimedes.
Give me a fulcrum and a lever and I can move the
Earth.
(Leonard is trying to bring the
furniture up by himself, but the furniture is too
heavy to move.)
Leonard: Just a matter
of—I don not have, I do not have this.
Sheldon: Archimedes would be so proud.
Leonard: Do you have any ideas?
Sheldon:
Yes. But they all involve a green lantern and a
power ring.
In this dialogue, we can
easily see that Sheldon’s words is an irony.
Leonard is
short and weak, and definitely he
could not bring the furniture up by himself. In
order
to enhance his confidence, he quoted
Archimedes’s saying. Now that he could not
move the furniture with the help of
Archimedes’s famous motto, how could
Archimedes be proud of himself? Besides, when
Leonard asked Sheldon for help,
Sheldon
answered that he needed a green lantern and a
power ring. Both the green
lantern and the
power ring are magic tools in comic books,
therefore, this sentences
means that Sheldon
really has a low EQ and he is totally childish.
4.2 Euphemism
7
The word
“euphemism” is derived from a Greek word, which
means
“goodpleasant speech” or “to speak with
good words or in a pleasant manner”.
According
to Meaman (1990: 1), euphemism means substituting
an inoffensive or
pleasant term for a more
explicit, offensive one, thereby veneering the
truth by using
kind words. It has some other
meanings, for example, comfortable words, gilded
words, cosmetic words, mild expression,
prudish phrase, delicate term, language of
deceit, the defense of the indefensible and so
on.
In this sit-com, Sheldon is always
critical and direct. He likes to talk about
science theories with his friends. However,
other people are reluctant to talk about
that
with him. Therefore, they usually use euphemism to
avoid their unwillingness
directly.
Here are two examples:
Example 2, Episode
23, Season 2
(It is two o’clock in the
morning. Sheldon is knocking Leonard’s door and
tries to
wake him up.)
Sheldon
：
Leonard? Leonard? Leonard?
Leonard: Sheldon, it is two o’clock in the
morning.
Example 3, Episode 23, Season 2
(Sheldon wants to go to the North Pole to do a
research. He knocks the
president’s door at
two o’clock in the morning in order to get the
president’s
agreement.. He tells Leonard about
that and says that the president has agreed to his
proposal.)
Leonard: He offered to send you
to the North Pole?
Sheldon: Yes. In fact he
was quite enthusiastic. He said,” Frankly, if I
could send
you tonight, I would.”
In
these two dialogues, Sheldon knocks Leonard’s door
at two o’clock in the
morning. It is
evidentially to see that Leonard is disturbed by
Sheldon. He informs
8
Sheldon
the time because he wants to emphasis that it is
time to sleep now.
Nevertheless, he does not
want to hurt Sheldon, and he uses euphemism here.
Also,
the president, instead of letting
Sheldon leave, tells Sheldon that he wants to sent
him
to the North Pole at present when he is
disturbed by his knocking.
4.3 Metaphor
Mu
Bin (慕宾，2012) has mentioned that, a metaphor makes
a comparison
between two unlike elements, and
this comparison is implied rather than directly
stated. According to Lu Xu (吕煦，2004)，the word
“metaphor” is derived from a
Greek word
“metaphorn”, which means “a transfer of a
meaning”. It is a figure of
speech containing
an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase
ordinarily and
primarily used of one thing is
applied to another.” (Webster’s New World
Dictionary).
People always regard a metaphor
as a form to express their feelings and behavior.
In another words, a metaphor, to some degree,
reflects the human being’s mode of
thinking.
To be more specific, it shows the inner world or
the inner need of people. In
this sit-coms,
metaphors are frequently used to express their
true feelings and can
always cheer up the
audience.
Here is an example:
Example
4( Episode 23, Season 2)
(Sheldon wants to use
the freezer at Penny’s workplace, and he is asking
for
Penny’s help.)
Sheldon: But to
elaborate, I am going to Arctic Circle with
Leonard, Wolowitz
and Koothrappali.
Penny:
You are all going?
Sheldon
：
Yes.
Penny: For three months?
Sheldon: Yes.
Penny: Excuse me. (Then, Penny walks towards
Leonard)
Sheldon: Is that a yes or no on that
freezer? That woman has the attention span
9
of a gnat.
In this
dialogue, Sheldon compares Penny’s attention into
the attention span of a
gnat. That is to say,
he does not think Penny can concentrate on their
present topic.
Penny cares about Leonard’s
leaving, and after realizing that Leonard is going
to
Arctic Circle for three months, she leaves
Sheldon along and do to Leonard. This
metaphor
vividly expresses Sheldon’s opinion on Penny.
Sheldon wants to know if
Penny would like to
offer a help. To him, Penny’s brain is as small as
a gnat and she
can not pay attention to his
words.
4.4 Repetition
Repetition is a
simple repeating of words or sentences with no
particular
placement of the words in order to
provide emphasis. In Grolier Academic
Encyclopedia, repetition is illustrated as the
repeating of any element in an utterance,
including sound…a word or phrase, a pattern of
accents… or an arrangement of lines.
It can be
expressed in various ways. There are different
kinds of repetition, for
example, repetition
of words, repetition of syntax, and repetition of
phonology and so
on.
Here are two typical
examples:
Example 5
(Sheldon is Knocking
Penny’s door)
Sheldon: Penny?
Sheldon:
Penny?
Sheldon: Penny?
Example 6
(Sheldon is Knocking Penny’s door
，
and
Penny is imitating his behavior.)
Sheldon:
Penny?
Penny: Sheldon?
Sheldon: Penny?
Penny: Sheldon?
10
Sheldon: Penny?
Penny: Sheldon?
This dialogue is regarded as the most
representative dialogue of Sheldon. Every
time
when he knocks other people’s door, he will repeat
other people’s name for three
times. This
strange habit really annoys his friends and it
becomes a funny part in the
sit-com. With
regards to the second example, Penny is trying to
imitating Sheldon’s
behavior. She keeps
repeating Sheldon’s name, which drives him mad.
Ⅴ. Conclusion
The Big Bang Theory is
a successful sit-com all over the world, and to
the
generation after 90s, it is even more
popular than the well-known sit-com The Friends.
When watching this sit-com, people can not
only be cheered up, but also they can
learn
some specific scientific knowledge. Besides, this
sit-com encourages the
audience to develop a
positive view towards both the life and the
future. Among all
the main characters, Sheldon
is the most significant one. Most of his words are
full of
scientific words and Western culture
as well as histories.
There are many
rhetorical devices in the dialogues of The Big
Bang Theory.
These typical rhetorical devices
vividly express the true feelings of the
characters, and
they contribute to the success
of this sit-com.
In our daily life, we can
learn to adapt some appropriate rhetorical devices
in
speaking and writing, in order to achieve
vividness and logic. Besides, there are
plenty
of beautiful words and sentences which are
beautified by different rhetorical
devices,
and only if we pay attention to them, can we
realize the beauty of language.
Ⅵ.
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