نبذة مختصرة : Pun, as a rhetorical device, is widely employed in both written and oral language. It plays a key role in generating and carrying humorous effects. The former research of Puns is usually concentrated on its definitions, classifications, translation strategies, pragmatic functions and are mainly narrowed down to the scope of rhetoric, semantics and pragmatics. However, few scholars have studied puns from a cognitive perspective. Based on Conceptual Blending Theory, the author collects 100 puns from 40 episodes of the first two seasons of The Big Bang Theory as the sources of research subjects. According to the users, types and functions of puns and data analysis, this study has come to the following conclusions: (1) Among the many characters, Sheldon is the person who uses puns the most, which fully reflect his personality of arrogance and showing off. Meanwhile, contextual puns appeared the most in the sitcom, which indicates the sitcom has a close connection with daily life. (2) The mirror network model, single-scope network model and double-scope network model could be conducted to construct meaning, while the meaning construction of puns cannot be used through simplex network model. (3) Puns have four kinds of functions in The Big Bang Theory. The major functions of pun are humorous, followed by sarcastic, persuasive and aesthetic functions. This article is helpful to readers to understand the meaning of puns correctly, at the same time it can promote the further application of Conceptual Blending Theory.
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