贺静

【Abstract】Hallidays register theory and G. Leechs deviation of register are the general knowledge of the topic in the academic field. This paper focuses on connection between deviation of register and humorous effects in English talk shows. The significance of this paper is to put this theory in broader use and to help English learners better understand western humor and talk shows.

【Key words】Deviation of Register； Humorous Effects； Talk Shows

Register theory

Halliday further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register： field of discourse， tenor of discourse and mode of discourse. Any instance of communication can be analyzed in terms of these three dimensions. For example， a lecture on biology in an technical college could be identified as： Field： scientific（biology） Tenor： teacher-students（formal， polite） Mode： oral（academic lecturing）

Deviation of Field

Field of discourse refers to what is going on： to the area of operation of the language activity. Its concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of communication. It answers the questions of ‘why and ‘about what of communication taking place. The topic between teachers and students should be related with lectures， and the topic between sellers and customers should be related with price and money. The field of a register determines to a great extent the vocabulary to be used in communication and it also determines the phonological and grammatical features of the language.

After spending all day watching football， Harry fell asleep in front of the TV and spent the night in the chair. In the morning， his wife woke him up. “ Get up， dear，” she said. “Its twenty to seven.” He awoke with a start. “In whose favor？”

The example above is a case of deviation of field. The husband is concerned about the final result of the football game， while his wife cares about the time. Here the husband and his wife have different concerns though they are placed in the same physical surrounding， so it is case deviated from a field related to time to a new one related to the final result of football game. The husbands answer “ In whose favor？” is not congruous with his wifes concern， which brings about humorous effects.

Deviation of Tenor

Tenor of discourse refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question： who the participants in the communication groups are and in what relationship they stand to each other. It answers the question of to ‘whom the speaker is communicating. This dimension to a great extent determines the level of formality and the level of technicality of the language we use.Consider the following examples.

Judge： I see that the cops say you were pickled last night and were driving an old jalopy down the middle of the road. True？

The discourse above is an example of deviation of tenor. It is a case deviated from formal relationship to informal one. “cops”， “ pickled” and “ jalopy” are slangs and informal words which should not have been used by a judge in court. “ cops” means policemen， “ pickled” drunk， and “ jalopy” an old car. What the judge said is not congruous with his social status and the formal situation， which arouses humous effects.

Deviation of Mode

Mode of discourse mainly refers to the medium of communication. Its concerned with “ how” communication is carried out. Fundamental to the mode of discourse is the distinction between speaking and writing.The purpose of this is to stand out characters humor. For example， there is a chat about weather between the mother of linguist Higgins and flower girl Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

Mrs. Higgins： Will it rain？ Do you think？

Eliza： The shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in an easterly direction. There are no indications of any great change in the metrical situation.

The discourse above is an example of deviation of mode， which is a case deviated from spoken mode to written one. Mrs. Higgins just used a casual and spoken way of talking about the weather. Instead of employing the same way as Mrs. Higgins does， Eliza sounds like a professional weather forecaster. What she says is not congruous with daily communication about weather， which arouses humorous effects.

References：

[1]Eggins S.1994，An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics[M]//London：Printer.Halliday M A K，Hasan R.1976，Cohesion in English.London：Longman.

[2]Halliday，M.A.K.& R.Hasan，2011，Cohesion in English[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社.

[3]Leech，G.N.1996，A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry[M].London：Longman.