| Acknowledgements | 第1-8页 |
| Abstract | 第8-9页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第9-14页 |
| ·Humor Research | 第9-12页 |
| ·Outline of the Present Thesis | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter Two Humor: An Overview | 第14-24页 |
| ·Definitions | 第14-16页 |
| ·Classification of Humor | 第16-17页 |
| ·Humor and Its Related Concepts | 第17-20页 |
| ·Humor and Joke | 第17页 |
| ·Humor and Comics | 第17-18页 |
| ·Humor and Irony | 第18页 |
| ·Humor and Satire | 第18-19页 |
| ·Irony and Satire | 第18-19页 |
| ·Humor and Satire | 第19页 |
| ·Humor and Sarcasm | 第19页 |
| ·Humor and Wit | 第19-20页 |
| ·Chinese Humor and Western Humor | 第20-24页 |
| ·Humor in China | 第20-22页 |
| ·Chinese Humor and Western Humor | 第22-24页 |
| Chapter Three Humor: A Genre Analysis Perspective | 第24-30页 |
| ·Critical Review of Humor Structure Studies | 第24-26页 |
| ·A Genre Analysis Approach | 第26-30页 |
| Chapter Four Humor: A Relevance Theory Perspective | 第30-40页 |
| ·Critical Review of Cognitive Processing of Humor | 第30-35页 |
| ·Relevance Theory and Humor Processing | 第35-40页 |
| ·Relevance Theory: Cognitive Environment | 第35-37页 |
| ·Cognitive Environment and Humor Processing | 第37-40页 |
| Chapter Five A Study of Humors as Perceived by Chinese College Students | 第40-45页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第40页 |
| ·Subjects | 第40页 |
| ·Materials and Procedure | 第40-42页 |
| ·Materials | 第40-42页 |
| ·Procedure | 第42页 |
| ·Methods of Analysis | 第42-45页 |
| ·Genre Analysis Perspective | 第43页 |
| ·Relevance Theory Perspective | 第43-44页 |
| ·Pilot Study | 第44-45页 |
| Chapter Six Results and Discussion | 第45-52页 |
| ·Research Question 1: Why do Chinese humors generate on some readers, but not on others? | 第45-46页 |
| ·Research Question 2: Since readers' cognitive environment leads to different humor appreciation, then what are the factors that affect readers cognitive environment? | 第46-52页 |
| ·Result and Discussion for Pilot Study | 第46-47页 |
| ·Result and Discussion for the Study | 第47-50页 |
| ·Result and Discussion for Interviews | 第50-52页 |
| Chapter Seven Conclusions | 第52-56页 |
| ·Major Findings of the Study | 第52-53页 |
| ·Limitations | 第53-54页 |
| ·Further Research | 第54-56页 |
| References | 第56-59页 |
| Appendices | 第59页 |
| Appendix A 80 Humorous Texts | 第59-67页 |
| Appendix B Questionnaire for Pilot Study | 第67-68页 |
| Appendix C Questionnaire for the Study | 第68-70页 |
| Appendix D Directions for the Semi-Structured Interviews | 第70-71页 |
| Appendix E Interviews'Note-Taking Scripts | 第71-77页 |
