Cognitive Aspects in War-time Ukrainian Humorous Discourse

Abstract

The article analyses the functioning of the war-time Ukrainian humorous discourse in general and the cognitive mechanisms of humor, including the “Availability Heuristic” cognitive pattern in particular. The study aims to examine 12 Ukrainian war-time jokes and to reveal main cognitive patterns and accompanying stylistic figures producing the comic effect. All jokes manifest the application of the “Availability heuristic” cognitive pattern inherent to the war period when old pre-war realities are changed with new war-time realities and explained in a funny way. The study addresses some cognitive and pragmatic aspects of the war-time Ukrainian humor, focusing on the role of cognitive patterns in selecting stylistic humor devices, while processing the incoming information and shaping the cognitive frameworks of humor perception and creation. The paper reveals the main cognitive patterns, including the “Availability Heuristic,” the “Distinct contrast,” the “Negativity Thinking,” the “Superiority or Illusionary Superiority,” the “Easel,” and their humorous actualization through such stylistic figures as paraprosdokian, irony, bathos, double entendre, pun, metaphor, and pastiche in its narrow meaning. The researched Ukrainian jokes are interwoven with the situational context of the dramatic events within the temporality of the speedy streaming news of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The paper explores the main pragmatic functions of Ukrainian war-time humorous discourse and makes additional remarks about a number of affirmations from some humor theories.