Absract

Humor sparks laughter, thaws embarrassment, soothes tension and relishes people’s life, which is indispensible for communications in people’s daily life and conducive to relationship-building. Humor needs to be chewed and digested. With the popularity of American TV series and movies, American humor has witnessed its bloom and attracted the attention of the public. Canadian American comedian Jim Carrey came to the spot light in the 1990s because many of his representatives are known as box-office hitter, winning almost universal praise. Known for his exaggerating, expressive and vivid performance, Jim Carrey has received four Golden Globe Award nominations and harvested two, which makes him, to some extent, an example of American humor.
This thesis consists of four chapters: The first chapter elucidates American humor. The definitions of humor and American humor together with a brief history of American humor are presented. The second chapter makes introduction to Jim Carrey and three of his representative movies：Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar and The Mask. The third chapter illuminates Grice’s Cooperative Principle and its four maxims (quantity, quality, relation and manner). Then, the fourth chapter explores what triggers laughter in the well-selected movie lines, revealing the relationship between Jim Carrey’s American humor and Cooperative Principle, which expedites the comprehension and appreciation of Jim Carrey’s American humor.   

Key words: Cooperative Principle; American humor; Jim Carrey; verbal humor

摘  要

幽默引人开怀之乐，融化尴尬之冰，缓解紧张之势，丰富了人们的生活。它在人们的日常交流中是不可或缺的，有利于建立良好的人际关系。幽默需要消化和吸收。随着美剧、美国电影的逐渐普及，美式幽默见证了其自身的繁荣，也引起了大众的关注。20世纪90年代，加拿大裔美籍喜剧演员金凯瑞逐渐引人注目，因为其代表作多数都脍炙人口，有票房高手之称。金凯瑞以其夸张、极富表现力和栩栩如生的表演著称，曾获四次金球奖提名，是两次金球奖的得主。这在一定程度上让他成为了美式幽默的一个典范。
本文包括四个章节：第一章介绍美式幽默：具体分为幽默、美式幽默的定义，以及美式幽默的简史三个部分。第二章简介金凯瑞及其代表作中的三部，即《冒牌天神》、《大话王》、《变相怪杰》。第三章阐释格莱斯的合作原则及其四大准则（数量、质量、关系、方式）。随后，第四章中，作者精选出了部分电影台词，探究其笑点成因，揭示金凯瑞式美国幽默与合作原则的关系，以促进对金凯瑞式美国幽默的理解和赏析。

关键词：合作原则；美式幽默；金凯瑞；言语幽默