| CONTENTS | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract | 第6-8页 |
| 摘要 | 第8-9页 |
| Introduction | 第9-12页 |
| Chapter One: Literature Review | 第12-19页 |
| ·Semantics Studies on Verbal Humor | 第12-13页 |
| ·Cognitive Studies on Verbal Humor | 第13-15页 |
| ·Pragmatic Studies on Verbal Humor | 第15-17页 |
| ·Innovation of the Thesis | 第17-19页 |
| Chapter Two: Humor and Pragmatics | 第19-28页 |
| ·Humor | 第19-23页 |
| ·Definitions of Humor | 第19-21页 |
| ·Classifications of Humor | 第21-23页 |
| ·Mechanism of Humor | 第23页 |
| ·Pragmatics | 第23-28页 |
| ·Cooperative Principle | 第24-25页 |
| ·Politeness Principle | 第25-26页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第26-28页 |
| Chapter Three: Research Methodology | 第28-31页 |
| ·Brief Introduction to Love Apartment and The Big Bang Theory | 第28-29页 |
| ·Love Apartment | 第28页 |
| ·The Big Bang Theory | 第28-29页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第29页 |
| ·Data Collection and Research Procedure | 第29-31页 |
| Chapter Four: Results and Discussion | 第31-59页 |
| ·The Mechanism of Verbal Humor in Chinese and English Sitcoms | 第31-51页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating the Cooperative Principle | 第32-44页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating Maxim of Quantity | 第32-37页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating Maxim of Quality | 第37-41页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating Maxim of Relation | 第41-43页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating Maxim of Manner | 第43-44页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Violating Politeness Principle | 第44-48页 |
| ·Verbal Humor through Misunderstanding the Speech Act Theory | 第48-51页 |
| ·The Similarities and Differences in the Mechanism of Verbal Humor | 第51-55页 |
| ·Similarities between the Mechanism in Verbal Humor | 第52页 |
| ·Differences between Mechanism in Verbal Humor | 第52-55页 |
| ·Reasons for the Obstacles in the Appreciation of Verbal Humor in Sitcoms | 第55-59页 |
| ·Language Factors | 第55-56页 |
| ·Culture Factors | 第56-59页 |
| Chapter Five: Implications | 第59-61页 |
| ·Implications for Cross-culture Communication | 第59页 |
| ·Implications for Chinese EFL teaching | 第59-61页 |
| Conclusion | 第61-62页 |
| Bibliography | 第62-65页 |
| Appendix | 第65-101页 |
| Acknowledgments | 第101页 |
