The Pragmatics of Humour across Discourse Domains

Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
LCC data......Page 5
Table of contents......Page 6
1. Pragmatics as the backdrop for humour research......Page 8
2. The content of this volume......Page 13
References......Page 20
1.1 Irony......Page 24
1. Introduction......Page 26
2. Testing the expectation hypothesis: initial and late processes......Page 28
3. General discussion......Page 35
References......Page 37
1. Introduction......Page 40
2. Approaches to irony......Page 43
3.1 Irony in real-time interaction......Page 47
3.2 Irony and everyday use: Some corpus observations......Page 48
3.3 Debating irony in the public sphere......Page 49
3.4 Irony: How many categories?......Page 53
4. Concluding remarks......Page 55
References......Page 56
1.1 The problem of a theoretical definition......Page 58
1.2 Necessary conditions......Page 61
2.1 Everyday surrealism......Page 62
2.2 How does it work?......Page 63
3.1 The hypothesis......Page 65
3.2 Criteria......Page 66
4. Conclusions......Page 73
References......Page 74
1.2 Puns and other wordplay......Page 76
1. Introduction......Page 78
2. Language, linguistic ambiguity, and puns......Page 79
2.1 Phonological ambiguity......Page 81
2.2 Lexical ambiguity......Page 83
2.3 Syntactic ambiguity......Page 84
3. Methodology......Page 87
4. Inter-author discrepancies......Page 88
4.1 Genre......Page 90
4.2 Phonological category eliminated......Page 92
4.3 Classifying word class change......Page 93
4.4 Presuming spoken counterpart......Page 96
5. Syllabic and morphological mechanisms......Page 97
5.1 Syllabic ambiguity......Page 98
5.2 Morphological ambiguity......Page 101
5.3 Hanging syllables/morphemes......Page 103
5.4 Morpheme inflation......Page 104
6. Using syllabic and morphological mechanisms for ambiguity categorization......Page 105
6.1 Ambiguity categorization matrix......Page 106
7. Conclusions......Page 109
References......Page 110
Websites Used for Data Collection......Page 111
1.1 The definition of a pun......Page 112
1.2 Participants’ social roles......Page 114
2. A note on the empirical data and the method......Page 116
3.1 The Clown: Costard (LLL)......Page 118
3.2 The Page: Speed (TGV)......Page 122
4. Concluding remarks......Page 127
References......Page 129
Primary sources......Page 130
1. Incongruity of register......Page 132
3. Existing lexical resources......Page 134
4. A corpus-based model of register......Page 135
5. Stage 1: Refining the mechanisms......Page 137
5.2 Computing coordinates......Page 138
5.3 Distance metrics......Page 139
5.4 Testing the settings......Page 140
6. Experimenting with different corpora......Page 141
7. Detecting jokes......Page 142
8. Abstracting the space......Page 145
9.2 Multiple incongruous items......Page 148
9.3 The role of neutral material......Page 149
References......Page 150
2.1 Jokes......Page 152
1. Introduction......Page 154
2. “Doing gender” and making fun......Page 155
3. Joke as a genre and its sources......Page 157
4. The General Theory of Verbal Humor......Page 160
5.1 Traditional gender displays......Page 162
5.2 Jocular presentation of matrimonial life......Page 165
5.3 Jocular presentation of courtship......Page 170
5.4 Heterosexuality and homosexuality......Page 172
6. Conclusion......Page 176
References......Page 177
1. Introduction......Page 180
2. The debate on aggressiveness......Page 181
3.1 Raskin’s approach to ethnic humour......Page 183
3.3 The notions of “ethnic script” and “ethnic joke” adopted in this study......Page 184
5. Analysis, findings and discussion......Page 185
5.1 Quantitative analysis......Page 186
5.2 Qualitative analysis......Page 189
5.3 Background to the leading ethnic minorities in Romania: The language issue......Page 190
5.4 Language distortion jokes about the Roma and Hungarians......Page 192
6. Conclusions......Page 195
References......Page 196
Jokes available at:......Page 197
1. Research background and terminology......Page 198
2. Discussion......Page 200
2.1 Sexual intercourse......Page 202
2.2 Female and male parts of body......Page 205
2.3 Variety is the spice of love......Page 207
2.4 Culturally taboo and less accepted erotic pleasures......Page 210
2.5 Procreation and birth control......Page 214
2.6 Miscellaneous......Page 215
3. Summary......Page 218
References......Page 219
2.2 Conversational humour......Page 222
1. Introduction......Page 224
2.1 Frame......Page 226
2.2 Keying......Page 228
2.3 Carnival......Page 229
3. Humorous framing......Page 230
3.1 Contextualisation cues......Page 231
3.2 Non-humorous/serious vs. humorous frame......Page 232
3.3 Humorous and non-humorous frames overlapping......Page 234
4. Distinguishing frames: The speaker’s intentions and the hearer’s recognition thereof......Page 240
References......Page 243
1. Introduction......Page 250
1.1 Conversational humour and natural (real-life) conversation......Page 252
1.2 Fictional conversation (scripted dialogue)......Page 253
1.3 From written conversation to quasi-conversation......Page 254
2. Live text commentary as a quasi-conversation......Page 258
3. Conversational humour in live text commentary......Page 261
3.1 Retorts......Page 263
3.2 Teasing......Page 264
3.3 Banter......Page 266
4. Conclusion......Page 267
References......Page 269
1. Introduction......Page 272
2. Data and methodology......Page 274
3.1 Humour, solidarity and integration......Page 276
3.2 Humour, power and boundaries......Page 281
3.3 Subversive humour......Page 284
4. Conclusion......Page 290
References......Page 291
Appendix: Transcription conventions......Page 294
Part 3. Forms of humour in public discourse......Page 296
1. Parody......Page 298
2. Scripts......Page 301
3. The incongruity-resolution model......Page 302
4. Parody, scripts and the IR model......Page 303
5.1 Parody processing model in practice (“Post-box Ceremony”)......Page 306
5.2 Prototypical script for a political event......Page 308
5.4 Incongruity manifested non-verbally......Page 309
5.5 Incongruity manifested verbally......Page 310
Acknowledgements......Page 314
References......Page 315
Appendix: Titles of sketches used in the analysis:......Page 316
1. Introduction......Page 318
2. Participants in film discourse......Page 319
3. Sitcom humour reliant on participation phenomena......Page 322
3.1 Recipients’ participation in a character’s self-talk......Page 324
3.2 Recipients’ participation in a character’s inner monologue......Page 325
3.3 Recipients’ participation in characters’ consecutive interactions......Page 327
3.4 Recipients’ participation in simultaneous interactions......Page 329
3.5 Recipients’ recognition of overhearers......Page 332
3.6 Attitude of concealment or disguisement towards recipients......Page 334
3.7 Speakers’ peculiar assigning of hearer roles......Page 336
4. Summary and final comments......Page 337
References......Page 338
1. Introduction......Page 342
2. Thematic variations on failure......Page 343
3. The loser type and other character correlates......Page 345
4. Linguistic humour and incongruity......Page 347
5. Script oppositions in Mere Anarchy......Page 349
6. Stylistic devices conveying comic incongruity......Page 351
6.1 Simile......Page 352
6.2 Understatement......Page 354
6.3 Irony......Page 355
References......Page 358
1. Introduction......Page 360
2. Humour and advertising......Page 362
3. Humour in court......Page 365
4. Theoretical models on persuasion (and humour)......Page 367
5. Caveats and applications......Page 369
References......Page 370
1. Introduction......Page 372
2.1 Translating humour: Problems and solutions......Page 374
2.2 Defining humour......Page 379
2.3 Identifying humour......Page 380
3.1. Mistranslation......Page 381
3.2 Bilingual puns, translation and interference......Page 382
4. Conclusions......Page 383
References......Page 384
Name index......Page 386
Subject index......Page 388