Abstract:

A “Tom Swifty” is a type of English word play that is closely related to the Chinese Xiehouyu, and its humor is achieved through a punning relationship between an adverb and the statement to which it refers. During the interpretation of Tom Swifty puns, this paper reveals that the base word is found to link two meanings, one of which is literal and the other non-literal, via the intermediate form-meaning inference of five steps. By creating a pun in the form of one form with two meanings, its plurality adds to its productivity. By means of homographic, homophonic, or homonymic processing, or the integrations thereof, Tom Swifty puns’ base words can give rise to one individual intermediate or a series of intermediates. The vertical or horizontal integrations of intermediates can constitute complicated form-meaning relations.

Keywords: Tom Swifty; homograph; homophone; homonym; pun; form-meaning representation

摘要：

汤姆诙谐句是英语中一种类似于汉语歇后语的文字游戏,它利用副词与陈述句之间的双关关系产生一种幽默的效果。在对汤姆诙谐句进行解读的过程中,本文发现经过5个步骤的形义推导,基准词可以与两种语义连通,一种是其字面意义,另一种是其非字面意义,表征为“一形两义”结构（即双关）。形义关系的多维性增加了“一形两义”结构的能产性。通过对基准词进行谐形、谐音、谐义的单一或组合形式的操作,可以产生形义表征的单个或多个中介词。其中,多个中介词的线性组合和水平组合构成复杂的形义关系。

关键词: 汤姆诙谐句, 谐形, 谐音, 谐义, 双关, 形义表征