Abstract

Humor is not only an art of persuasion, but also a popular means adopted by different kinds of TV programs to attract the audience, the American talk show in particular. And a clear understanding of humor in American talk show can not only help the audience better understand and appreciate the American culture, but also help them to learn to be humorous, which will undoubtedly make them much more charming. In this sense, based on The Oprah Winfrey Show, this thesis makes an analysis of verbal humor in American talk show from the perspective of rhetoric. Therefore, first of all, a general introduction to The Oprah Winfrey Show, rhetoric devices and humor is given to equip the reader with sufficient background information. Then, verbal humor in The Oprah Winfrey Show is analyzed from the aspects of pun, exaggeration, parody, irony, euphemism, and oxymoron. In a word, this research is undoubtedly helpful in improving the awareness of English verbal humor and in offering the new instructive suggestions for further research of discourse analysis of American talk show in the rhetoric field.

Key Words: The Oprah Winfrey Show  rhetoric  English verbal humor

摘  要

幽默是一种语言艺术，能够帮助人在最大程度上实现自己的目的。同时对于各种不同的电视节目来说，是一种极为有效和普遍的吸引观众的手段，风靡全世界的美国脱口秀很好地运用这一方法并取得了卓越的成效。而对于美国脱口秀节目中语言幽默的深入和细致地认识，不仅可以帮助观众更好地理解和欣赏的美国文化，同时也帮助他们学会幽默，这无疑让他们更加迷人。因此，以美国著名的《奥普拉脱口秀》为范本，本论文从修辞学的角度对美国脱口秀语言的幽默性进行了系统和全面的分析。本论文首先对《普拉脱口秀》、修辞手法和幽默的概念进行了简要介绍，从而使读者能够获得足够的背景信息。其次，对《奥普拉脱口秀》中的语言幽默从双关语，夸张，模仿，讽刺，委婉和矛盾等六大方面进行分析。总之，本研究致力于提高读者对于英语语言幽默的意识，为美国脱口秀节目在修辞领域的语言分析起到了进一步新的研究性指导建议，这无疑是很有帮助的。

关键词：《奥普拉脱口秀》  修辞学  英语幽默

1 Introduction
Language, generally acknowledged as an essential feature of human civilization, is a most convenient and easiest tool in communication. And talk show originally an American program broadcast on TV or radio mainly in the form of talk, brings its charm to the full. Humorous language is an important means to realize the comic talk show and the main source for the audience to obtain aesthetic pleasure. In various humorous ways of introduction or criticism of major events in the society, American talk show has managed to make the audience feel funny and happy. With the fast development of technology and globalization, American talk show has become popular everywhere in the world. It has not only become a favored way of entertainment, but also a window to observe American society and culture.