General Theory Of Verbal Humor Research Articles

Joke synonymy sensitivity among working comedians and the General Theory of Verbal Humor

Joke synonymy sensitivity among working comedians and the General Theory of Verbal Humor

“Silence is the best answer for a bully”: an exploration of humour techniques in selected Nigerian newspaper political cartoons

Abstract Newspaper political cartoons, known for their satirical nature, employ semiotic and linguistic techniques to comment on or criticise political leaders and events humorously. While previous studies on Nigerian newspaper political cartoons have focused on ideological issues and discourse frames, little attention has been given to the linguistic investigation of semiotic humour techniques in these cartoons. This study, therefore, investigates these humour techniques, utilising Salvatore Attardo and Victor Raskin’s General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) as the framework within a descriptive design. Three newspapers – Punch, The Guardian, and Daily Trust – were purposively selected for their regular publication of cartoons, criticising Nigeria’s politics. Eleven political cartoons were purposively selected for their semiotic and humorous depictions of Nigeria’s politics, and subjected to linguistic analysis. Six semiotic humour techniques were identified in the cartoons: exaggeration, humorous metaphor, distortion of formulaic expressions, neologism, innovative collocation, and sarcasm. These techniques were employed to satirise three governance issues in Nigeria – misgovernance, corruption and insecurity.

On Verbal Humour Translation from English to Chinese in Subtitles of Stand-up Comedies under the General Theory of Verbal Humour

Apart from the increase in local TV or network programs of stand-up comedies, many Chinese translators have translated English stand-up comedies online. In the light of Attardo’s General Theory of Verbal Humour, this research aims to discuss the translation effect of verbal humour in accordance with the six Knowledge Resources from the GTVH. After a qualitative analysis of research data, this research demonstrates the translatability of verbal humour in stand-up comedies.

Estudio del formante <i>-ina </i>y<i> -oide</i> como sufijo de creación léxica con efectos cómicos en la red social <i>Twitter</i>

This research aims to examine humor as a pragmatic-social phenomenon applied to the use of two Greco-Latin formants with comic intention. This objective seeks to demonstrate the use of two elements with Greco-Latin roots in the formation of a humorous pattern that manifests itself in the virtual environment. To achieve this, both suffixes have been applied to lexical bases that are in principle unrelated to these elements. This research will provide a brief explanation of the suffixes -ina and -oide, commonly used in the scientific-technical field, but in this case they are adopted by speakers as a strategy to generate comedy in the virtual environment of the social network Twitter. Finally, the General Theory of Verbal Humor will be applied to the 756 tweets that make up the compiled corpus. A pragmatic analysis of the most representative texts in which both suffixes published on said platform are used will be presented and will serve as an example of such uses.

Humour in Macanese Creole literature as an identity creator and consolidator

Macanese Creole survives in literary works of the late 19th and 20th centuries. This paper explores comic literature, which constitutes the bulk of the existing corpus in this language, and analyses how this genre relates to the creation and maintenance of a Macanese identity represented as distinct from surrounding historically and demographically significant identities. I resort to the incongruity theory and to some relevant knowledge resources (script opposition, situation, target, and language) of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (Attardo and Raskin, 1991; Attardo 2001; 2008) to analyse how comic literature in Macanese fabricates a fictionalised and performative memory connected to the way in which the Macanese wish to see themselves and be seen by others.

Wordplay-based humor

Translating humour is comparable to working with poetry: one has to make sacrifices for the sake of equivalence. The task is further complicated when humour is anchored in multiple communication channels, such as the verbal and visual ones. The data of this article is complete Season 5 of The Simpsons animated sitcom and its Ukrainian, Russian, and German translation versions. Selected instances from the larger corpus of 526 humorous acts are discussed in light of Attardo’s (2001) General Theory of Verbal Humour and Zabalbeascoa’s (1993) concept of faithfulness in translation. They are then evaluated according to Chiaro’s (2008) typology for wordplay translation, which is expanded with concrete techniques. The findings suggest that the translator’s creativity may play a more important role than the proximity between the source and target languages.

Beyond academic discourse: practs of humour in departmental chatrooms of selected Federal University students in Southwest Nigeria

ABSTRACT Studies on humour have been extensively explored from the perspectives of stand-up comedy, hip-hop songs and others; however, existing works have not adequately researched the possibility of Nigerian university students evoking humour in their departmental chatroom through deployment of multiple codes. This paper therefore investigates how students spiced up their conversation in the departmental chatroom (DC) with purposefully composed humour through language manipulation in academic communities. Guided by an integrated framework of Jacob Mey Pragmatic acts theory, Attardo & Raskin General Theory of Verbal Humour and Peter Auer’s Typologies of Code Switching, the study examines humorous expressions in selected DC of Federal University students in southwest, Nigeria. Twelve excerpts were analysed and findings revealed code switching as a central humour strategy. Seven humour techniques and thirteen pragmatic acts were identified. The thematic issues that preoccupy the jokes were promiscuity, obligation of vigorous prayers, high consumption rate, and socio-cultural identity. The dissolution of the incongruous expressions to produce humour relies heavily on shared cultural knowledge (SCK), shared situational knowledge (SSK) and shared linguistic knowledge (SLK). The study validates existing knowledge that all humans naturally participate in humorous speech and behaviour as students engage in humorous interactions amidst their cumbersome academic programs.

Stereotyping through Humour in Animated Movies: A Multimodal Analysis

Stereotyping pervades across cultures and is carried out through several ways including media, social practices, and behaviours. Animated movies are one of the popular modes wherein humour acts as an effective discourse vehicle to represent and negotiate certain stereotypical tags associated with race, gender, and social class. There are contending claims about whether animated movies have been purged off the prevalent stereotypical biases, but the contention remains unsubstantiated. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the humour genre of animated movies with a view to figuring out whether the stereotyping associated with race has either been eliminated or reduced with the passage of time. Four popular animated movies, namely, Shrek (2001), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Zootopia (2016) and Moana (2016) were analysed using textual analysis. The data collection was based on the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) presented by Attardo (2001) with some extensions proposed by Tsakona (2013). The notions of Script Opposition and Target Knowledge Resources (KR's) of GTVH have been treated as the selection criteria of humour incidences. Those humour incidences which portray positive or negative aspects of established beliefs have been analysed. The study identified verbal and non-verbal modes of humour employed in the selected animated movies, communicating certain positive and negative stereotypes. Results suggested that multimodal humour served to perpetuate as well as fade and neutralise negative and positive facets of existing tags associated with white, black, and Polynesian races. The analysis suggested mixed stereotypes, however, the striking pattern observed in the data analysis over the period manifested a considerable progress in promoting positive stereotypes of race particularly black and Polynesians. 
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Satirical Strategies Employed on NTV’s the Wicked Edition: A Comprehensive Analysis

Comedy has long been appreciated as a powerful form of communication that not only entertains but also offers a platform for addressing serious societal challenges The language used in comedy, particularly in satirical comedy, is essential in implicitly conveying social commentary. The Wicked Edition show, is known for its use of satirical language to address societal issues indirectly. This study looks into the relationship between language, satire, and social criticism, with an emphasis on the satirical approaches used in the show. The study illuminates the purposeful and intended use of satire as a powerful tool for communication, entertainment, and social criticism by conducting a thorough investigation of verbal humor, irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole. The Wicked Edition show skillfully employs humorous strategies to communicate essential messages, engage the audience in thought-provoking conversations, and inspire reflection on societal expectations and behaviors. The show successfully analyzes sensitive topics such as politics, government policies, work ethics, and community responses to the Covid-19 pandemic through the use of irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole. Furthermore, this study delves into the socio-pragmatic aspects of the language style employed in The Wicked Edition show, emphasizing on the incorporation of both monologue and dialogue structures. By employing the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH), this study seeks to analyze the implicit meanings conveyed through the comedian’s linguistic style.

“If I had a shilling…”

Abstract Salvatore Attardo and Victor Raskin’s General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH, 1991) offers a useful foundation to determine whether something as universal as humour shows similar structures across different medieval genres. While the GTVH was designed in such a way that it can be applied to any humorous text, it seems extremely beneficial to apply it to two texts with similar themes to examine their perceived funniness. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, in this paper the GTVH is applied to the Middle English fabliau Dame Sirith and Hans Sachs’ German Schwank­erzählung “Der fahrendt Schuler mit dem Teufelbannen,” which both focus on the topic of financial gain through unintended involvement in adultery of their respective protagonists. This is done in order to discuss their humorous potential, and to determine, by means of the notion of joke similarity, whether this potential is realised through similar structures across the two genres.

Blurred lines or Word crimes? On cognitive linguistic contributions to the study of musical parody by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

The paper argues for the multiple advantages of applying cognitive linguistic concepts and frameworks to the study of basic mechanisms and conceptual, pragmatic and social aspects of musical parody a as a polyvalent, flexible, multimodal phenomenon, understood both as a musical genre which revolves around replication or imitation of pre-existing music, and as a comedic statement utilizing the latter technique. Points of convergence, and important differences, between traditional concepts offered by the most influential linguistic theories of humour, viz. Raskin’s (1985) Semantic Script Theory of Humour and Attardo & Raskin’s (1991) General Theory of Verbal Humour, are addressed, with particular emphasis on how the status and treatment of concepts of incongruity and its resolution are accommodated within the interpretative frameworks of frame- shifting (Coulson, 2001) and Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002). Both emerge as useful heuristics offered within the cognitive linguistic paradigm and suggested as applicable to (multimodal) humour research. These are argued to encompass and cater for both the sequential and the (predominately) non-sequential aspects of incongruity resolution (Ritchie, 2009) underlying musical parodies as sources of humorous amusement. Further motivating factors for the development and appreciation of parodies as humorous stimuli, such as the role of (word) play and listener familiarity with the borrowed music are addressed by focusing on the description of the distinctive cognitive-cultural mechanisms and goals underlying the opus of a particular artist, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, by applying the abovementioned concepts and interpretative frameworks to the analysis of the techniques and goals behind his use of comedy music.

Dramaturgical Tricks in the Clementine Literature

The Clementine novel (written in the 4th century CE and set in the 1st century CE) incorporates a palette of comic features. Using the “Taxonomy of ” and the “Script Theory” developed by Attardo and Raskin within the framework of the General Theory of Verbal Humour, this essay examines some of these comic features, focussing on the so called “meta-textual comic” – i.e., the comic effect that uses a manipulation of the plot’s structure to elicit laughter from the reader.

Online Satirical News as Instances of Liquid Racism: Evidence from Greek

When discussing the relationship between humour and racism, research usually concentrates on ethnic or racist jokes or on other humorous texts which expressly target migrants or other minorities. Relevant studies more or less explicitly ascribe to critical humour studies investigating topics such as how and why humour targeting the linguistic, cultural, or religious Other reproduces and maintains social discrimination and inequality, as well as how and why the generic conventions of humorous genres do not incite the audience to think critically of their content but instead enhance their tolerance for discriminatory and racist standpoints. In this context, the present study explores humorous texts that at first sight appear to have antiracist intentions. More specifically, I analyse a corpus of satirical news coming from popular Greek websites and targeting majority people for their racist views and practices towards migrants. The analysis is based on the concepts of script opposition and target as defined in the framework of the General Theory of Verbal Humour. The findings suggest that distinguishing between antiracist and racist interpretations is not an easy or straightforward matter: humour seems to blur the boundary between racism and antiracism. In order to account for this dimension of humour, I exploit the concept of liquid racism put forward by Weaver (The Rhetoric of Racist Humour) to account for the ambiguities of humorous discourse when it involves racist and antiracist meanings and interpretations.

Forms and functions of jokes disseminated during the Covid-19 pandemic in Jordan

People in Jordan have suffered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Jordanian government took some pre-emptive measures to curb the spread of the virus, including the announcement of indefinite curfew and nationwide strict lockdown. Humorous texts appear to be the people’s key to escape from life stress, minimise the pressure of unpleasant situations and increase pleasure. Jordanian humour attracts our attention to find out what it does during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigate its structure. To pursue this aim, a sample of 50 jokes and memes were collected from Facebook and WhatsApp in 2020 and analysed using the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). The researchers conducted a systematic and detailed analysis of the data relying on the six knowledge resources postulated by the GTVH, which are script opposition, logical mechanism, situation, target, narrative strategy and language. The analysis showed that humour can be viewed as a tool to release the tensions caused by Covid-19 restrictions on mobility and lockdown. It also revealed the people’s comments on different aspects of their life during the pandemic, including but not limited to social contact, economic status and education. In most of the analysed texts, humour is playful and serves the function of decommitment. This study offers insights into Arabic humour discourse, showing how jokes may serve the emerging context and encourage conducting studies on humorous texts in various settings to show what roles they would play.

Exploring COVID-19 Arabic Humorous Comments in Social Media: Linguistic Analysis of Facebook Comments Using the General Theory of Verbal Humor

This paper investigates the Arabic verbal humorous comments pertaining to COVID-19 on social media. The main objectives of the paper are to identify the distinct categories that are highlighted in those comments disseminated between March and September 2020, on the AlMamlaka and Roya Jordanian Facebook accounts. Additionally, the study examines the claim of Attardo and Raskins's (1991) that the "target" is an optional Knowledge Resource in the General Theory of Verbal Humor. The research design employed in this study is descriptive qualitative. The researchers conducted a thematic analysis to analyze 15 comments, applying the General Theory of Verbal Humor of Attardo and Raskin (1991). The analysis revealed eight emerging categories: governmental, gender, COVID-19, lockdown, behavior, conspiracy, geographical, and facemask jokes. The study found that humorous comments conform to the six Knowledge Resources of the General Theory of Verbal Humor. The most prominent logical mechanism used in the comments was irony and sarcasm, enabling Jordanians to shed light on hidden issues to express their reactions and feelings. The study also found that identifying the target in a humorous comment is crucial in determining the various categories of humorous comments. The research opens avenues for further exploration into the utilization and interpretation of humor in diverse cultural settings, during other natural disasters, and its impact on understanding humorous content.

“¿Cómo te sientes? – With my butt!”: code-choice-related humor in bilingual speakers living with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type

This study investigates data from three narrative interviews held with people living with early- and mid-stage dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT) and their primary care partners speaking English and Spanish in informal settings; the analysis focuses on the humorous moves which are employed by the participants living with dementia in both languages. Drawing on the General Theory of Verbal Humor and the Cooperative Principle, this study sheds light on the conversational humor on a semantic (i.e. language-dependent) as well as pragmatic level (i.e. contextually situated) initiated by the people living with dementia in this dataset while investigating the interpersonal goals behind such moves. By analyzing the (intentional) humorous practices and their respective code choices, our aim is to gain a better understanding of the pragmatic abilities of speakers which are retained while experiencing communication challenges in the face of DAT. This study thus contributes with increased knowledge about people living with dementia as active conversational partners.

Humor and allusions on screen

Contemporary texts often require a reader or viewer with vast background knowledge. One of the reasons behind this is intertextuality: every text is reliant, to a certain extent, on previous written, filmed, or painted artifacts. Conveying intertextuality by means of another language implies that a translator recognizes allusions and their function, analyses their recognizability in the target culture, and offers a solution that maintains their pragmatic effect. In the case of a multimodal product like an animated cartoon, the translator is also tasked with bringing the verbal channel to conformity with the non-verbal one. This article focuses on translation strategies of allusions to examine whether the distance between the original and target language plays a crucial role in conveying allusive humour. The research corpus is complete Season 5 of The Simpsons animated sitcom and its three translations: German, Ukrainian, and Russian. Selected scenes are discussed in light of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (Attardo, et al. 2002) and strategies for translating allusions (Leppihalme, 1992). The findings suggest that the distance between languages is not a key factor when searching for effective translation solutions, and that it is a translator’s competence that plays a major role in humour translation.

Polysemous Dajare Wordplay in Japanese-Language Advertisement Series Titled Santarou: A Pragmatic Study

Dajare is a type of Japanese wordplay used in humorous contexts. Previous studies have only examined dajare formed through homophonic or semi-homophonic word pairs, while polysemous wordplay is more commonly found in English-language puns. This study seeks to describe dajare based on polysemy found in a series of Japaneselanguage television advertisements titled Santarou produced by Au. This study uses the qualitative-descriptive method to describe polysemous dajare found in the data source. The theory used is Attardo’s (2017) general theory of verbal humor to describe how the dajare creates humor in the advertisements. It can be concluded that polysemous dajare wordplay in the data revolves around the incongruity between the original meaning of a word and its derivation in slang and colloquial language.

Metaphorical Humor in Satirical News Shows: A Content Analysis

ABSTRACT Satirical news is often characterized as a hybrid genre that consists of three important communicative functions: it is (1) humoristic, (2) informative, and (3) evaluative. The Humoristic Metaphors in Satirical News (HMSN) typology demonstrates that metaphors can be utilized by satirists to express this hybridity by consisting of a combination of one or more of satire’s core communicative functions. Nevertheless, the underlying principles through which metaphors are capable of humorously explaining and/or criticizing current affairs are less clear. To broaden our understanding of how metaphorical humor is used in satirical news to fulfill these functions, we integrate the HMSN typology with the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH). The GTVH assumes that all verbal humor must draw from six interdependent Knowledge Resources (KRs). Through a content analysis of metaphorical humor used across various American satirical news shows, we investigated how these KRs are used to fulfill satire’s core communicative functions across the various metaphorical sub-types of the HSMN typology. We found that: (1) some KRs can help fulfill the communicative function(s) of metaphorical jokes, while (2) some KRs constrain the options available for the expression of certain communicative function(s) or other KRs.

Sociological Features Of Urdu And English Memes: An Analysis

In the contemporary realm of digitized existence, memes have become the norm of our virtual culture, omnipresent across the various platforms of social media. Functioning as a distinct and advanced mode of communication, memes enable social media users with an unfettered avenue to communicate their thoughts, jokes, ideas, critiques, etc. This study focuses on English and Urdu memes as one of the internet communication phenomena and their specific sociological features that make these memes interesting sociologically. Here mainly the memes that are in the form of images with a piece of written text on them are considered. Within the purview of this exploration, the General Theory of Verbal Humor presented by Raskin and Salvatore in 1991, has been undertaken as an analytical lens. Six memes apiece from both English and Urdu have been selected for the analysis. From the results, it was shown that memes are used as strong social expressions. These reflect public reactions to political, social, and economic events, depicting the strong influence of technology on social behaviors. Urdu memes, being intrinsically rooted in the national fabric of Pakistan, emerges as more understandable and relatable to a Pakistani layman. In this way, Urdu memes stand distinguished for their contextual alignment with the Pakistani society, when put against English memes.