| Abstract in Chinese | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract in English | 第6-10页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第10-13页 |
| ·Objective and Significance of the Research | 第10-11页 |
| ·A General Introduction to the Corpus | 第11-12页 |
| ·The Overall Structure of the Thesis | 第12-13页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第13-17页 |
| ·Humor Studies Abroad | 第13-14页 |
| ·Humor Studies at Home | 第14-15页 |
| ·Humor Studies on Friends | 第15-16页 |
| ·Summary | 第16-17页 |
| Chapter 3 Research Methodology | 第17-26页 |
| ·Theoretical Framework | 第17-24页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第17-21页 |
| ·Definition of Humorous Speech Act | 第21-23页 |
| ·Classification of Humorous Speech Act | 第23-24页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第24页 |
| ·Research Design | 第24-26页 |
| Chapter 4 Analysis on Humorous Speech Acts in Friends | 第26-54页 |
| ·Humor Achieved by Linguistic Means | 第27-49页 |
| ·Phonological Means | 第28-33页 |
| ·Lexical Means | 第33-36页 |
| ·Semantic Means | 第36-38页 |
| ·Rhetorical Means | 第38-49页 |
| ·Humor Achieved by Breaking Logical Rules | 第49-50页 |
| ·Humor Achieved by Communicative Rules | 第50-51页 |
| ·Humor Affected by Cultural Context | 第51-53页 |
| ·Summary | 第53-54页 |
| Chapter 5 Reflections on the Major Findings | 第54-61页 |
| ·Linguistic Feature of English Humor | 第54-57页 |
| ·Phonetic Feature of English Humor | 第54-55页 |
| ·Alphabetical Feature of English Humor | 第55-56页 |
| ·Semantic Feature of English Humor | 第56-57页 |
| ·Western Values Rooted in Humorous Speech Acts | 第57-59页 |
| ·Excellent Playwriting of the Comedy | 第59-61页 |
| Chapter 6 Implications of the Present Study | 第61-64页 |
| ·Implication to Teaching and Learning | 第61-62页 |
| ·Implication to Cross-Cultural Communication | 第62页 |
| ·Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research | 第62-64页 |
| Chapter 7 Conclusion | 第64-65页 |
| Bibliography | 第65-69页 |
| Publications During the Postgraduate Program | 第69-70页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第70-71页 |
