Theory Of Humor Research Articles

Examination of Alexander Mccall Smith's Children's Stories According to the Theories of Humor

Humour has existed in numerous fields throughout history, including philosophy, psychology, medicine, athletics, and art and literature. In literature, humour has been employed as a mode of expression, a mode of communication. The purpose of this study is to examine the children's stories of British author Alexander MacCall Smith in light of humour theories. Document analysis, which is one of the qualitative research approaches, was utilized to conduct this study. Nineteen of Alexander MacCall Smith's children's literature works were studied through a literature review, and eleven children's stories were picked using criterion sampling as the research's data source. The selected stories were assessed based on the superiority theory, the incongruity theory, and the relief theory. Using descriptive analysis, the humorous components of the narratives were identified and evaluated in accordance with the theoretical framework of humour theories. It was concluded that Alexander MacCall Smith's hilarious children's stories contained 25% superiority theory, 42.5% incongruity theory, and 32.5% relaxation theory-based humour. The conclusion was that the author's children's stories featured funny facts that were consistent with the theoretical foundations of all three theories. The author's conception of comedy is based on the conceptual framework of the incongruity theory, which defines discordant and conflicting mental states.

НЕОҐРАЙСІВСЬКІ ЛІНГВОПРАГМАТИЧНІ ПІДХОДИ ДО ВИВЧЕННЯ ВЕРБАЛЬНОГО ГУМОРУ: ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЙ ТА ЕМПІРИЧНИЙ СИНТЕЗ

Among modern cognitive approaches to uncovering the mechanism of humor generation, the most famous are the Semantic Script Theory of Humor and its improved version – the General Theory of Verbal Humor, which are united under the umbrella of frame/script incongruity inherent in humor. This study is devoted to one of the most discussed pragmatic approaches, which is a part of the General Theory of Verbal Humor, the so-called neo-Gricean theory of Raskin and Attardo. It consists in the fact that jokes, as well as other comic forms, constitute a non-bona-fide mode of communication, which is opposed to the Gricean model and accordingly, it is guided by the humour cooperative principle. On the basis of the analysis of these authors conception (Attardo & Raskin 1994; Attardo 1993, 2003, 2017, etc.) on non-observance of cooperative maxims in a humorous message a zone of productive criticism was highlighted, namely: insufficient distinction between the concepts of 'violation' vs 'flout' of maxims (Dynel 2008, 2013); lack of proper interest in the social context and emotional background of communication, presupposed by Relevance Theory and Politeness Theory, and, accordingly, the communicative norms are limited only by the cooperative principle of Grice; the lack of criteria for intentional violation of communicative maxims, necessary for the identification of humorous implicatures. The comic effect is more likely to be recognised, if, in the course of interpretation, the addressee discovers a repeated maxim flouting, as well as possible ignoring of other norms. Therefore, it is proposed to include to the generally accepted list of Grice's maxims Leach's principle of politeness, which is mostly focused not on the substantive aspect of communication, but on the social one: the speaker's attitude towards third parties in a status-role hierarchy. The obtained results of the theoretical exploration are integrated into an improved model of humor interpretation and illustrated by a intent-analysis of a verbal joke.

Media communication, cognitive aspects, war-time Ukrainian humorous discourse

The article analyses the functioning of the war-time Ukrainian humorous discourse in media communication in general and the cognitive mechanisms of humor, including the ‘Availability Heuristic’ cognitive pattern in particular.’ The study aims to examine twelve Ukrainian war-time jokes and to reveal the 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 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,’ ‘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. The war-time Ukrainian humorous discourse is set against the background of the current cruel Russian-Ukrainian war realities. It differs from the pre-war Ukrainian humorous discourse stylistically, pragmatically, and cognitively.

Developing a Sense of Humor: Congruence Between Humor Type and Brand Personality

Humorous ads grab the attention of viewers and are a go-to approach for many advertisers. Funny ads can have a positive effect on brand recall, purchase intentions, and attitude toward the ad and brand. However, the use of humor does not always produce positive results for brands. Humorous ads often fall short of connecting with the brand’s target audience, leaving them feeling confused, disappointed, or offended. One possible explanation for these failures is that the type of humor used in the ad is a poor match to the brand personality dimensions developed by marketers. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to assist advertisers in choosing a type of humor that is suitable, or congruent, to the personality dimensions portrayed by the brand. This framework forms a bridge between Speck’s (1991) Humorous Message Taxonomy and Aaker’s (1997) Brand Personality dimensions and is designed to be useful for advertising practitioners and a step forward for advertising and humor theory. Application of the framework and future research possibilities are also discussed.

Between the Star Boy and the City Boy: Humour, Sarcasm and Rhetoric-Induced (De)Marketing in a Nigerian Presidential Primary Election

Beyond the political communication context, non-verbal communication cues are so potent that their interpretations may outweigh the intentionality of the interlocutors that produce the cues. This study analyses the communicative and rhetorical strategies in seven purposively selected political memes created by Nigerians before Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) held her presidential primary election ahead of the country’s 2023 Presidential Election. The study focused on how the memes marketed and de-marketed the candidacies of Nigeria’s Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (the star boy), and Former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (the city boy). Driven by the set-up-incongruity resolution theory of humour, rhetorical framing and socio-semiotic model for visual analysis, the study identified two general themes and five sub-themes from the memes. In the first theme— collective framing of political actors—, Tinubu and Osinbajo were framed as combating competitors. For the second general theme— individuated framing of political gladiators—, sub-themes such as Osinbajo as a kind politician, Tinubu as a kingmaker, Tinubu as a thug and Osinbajo as a betrayer dominated. The study recommends that to establish a better democratic atmosphere in Nigeria, political stakeholders should emphasise accurate civic education on the Nigerian public space and stress pertinent campaign issues instead of irrelevancies.

“TO JOKE ABOUT GOD”: ANECDOTES OF HAJI HASAN MUSTAPA

Humor is one of the characteristics of the Sundanese people in West Java. This is not only seen in their conversations about everyday matters but also about serious and sacred issues. They sometimes faced these sacred issues by remaining relaxed and laughing. This, for instance, can be seen in the figure of Haji Hasan Mustapa, a Great Penghulu of Kutaraja and Bandung during the Dutch colonial period. This study focuses on the 209 Sundanese anecdotes of Mustapa that his secretary, M. Wangsaatmaja, collected in Boekoe Singa-Bandoeng (1930) and Boekoe Dongeng djeung Tajarita Sadjarah(1932), as well as those collected by Mustapa's admirer, Ajip Rosidi, in Haji Hasan Mustapa's Jeung Karya-karyana(1989). By using the Adjidarma’s humor theory, which mentions three categories of humor: superiority, incongruity, and extrication, the results show that the incongruous humor category predominates in Mustapa's anecdotes. This can be seen in his incongruous expressions about the nature of God that are out of the ordinary. He did not show his superiority as a respected Dutch official, nor did he extricate himself from various tensions and obstacles. This generally relates to the low level of religious knowledge of his interlocutors. Mustapa’s answers were considered weird and out of the ordinary to them. Therefore, it is understandable that among the Sundanese, Mustapa is known as an eccentric ulama.

Neil Simon’ın Brighton Beach Memoirs Adlı Oyununda Geleneksel Üç Mizah Teorisinin Etkileşimi

Humour/laughter is a human entity and activity. It takes place in almost all kinds of social interactions. Most of us cannot help laughing at something funny in our daily routines. Laughter is the fundamental mode of expression common to human beings. From this perspective, Simon is considered one of the most significant playwrights who uses laughter elements skilfully in his works. He is called a “laugh machine". Marvin Neil Simon (1927-2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter, television joke writer, and one of the most popular and successful dramatists commercially and artistically in the history of American theatre. This paper aims to explore how Neil Simon uses three traditional humour/laughter theories: The Superiority Theory, the Incongruity Theory, and the Relief Theory, in his Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983). It is an autobiographical play and one of Simon’s masterpieces in Simon’s BB Trilogy. This play is rich enough to explore three traditional humour theories. It deals with one family’s survival struggle just before the World War II during the Great Depression. It was a time of hardships for millions of people in the late 1930s. While Father makes all decisions, a passive-aggressive mother is self-sacrificing and manipulates his sons. The study adopts the qualitative analysis research method incorporated into analysis of dramatic texts.

Political Humor in Abdur Arsyad's Stand-up Comedy

The study aimed to identify types of political humor in Abdur Arsyad’s stand-up comedy by applying the Script-Based Semantic Theory of Humor (SSTH) and describing the language games to support humor. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. The data consisted of Abdur Arsyad’s stand-up comedy video published on Youtube. The data method collection used listening and note-taking techniques. The result showed that political humor in Abdur Arsyad’s stand-up comedy can be classified into (1) humor to criticize political figures and political groups, and (2) humor that describes bad conditions in society: political repression, education, corruption, and social inequality. Two language games are used, namely sound games and meaning games.

Humour and playfulness and their practical use in the advancement of coaching psychology and practice

This paper explores the idea of the existence, use and emergence of humour and playfulness within coaching relationships. We frame this use (and value) of humour and playfulness as part of the skills and tools of an executive coach. Starting this process, through a number of key questions we asked ourselves, we have expanded our inquiry beyond the theory of human humour and playfulness into the practical elements of this topic and talk about its relevance to liminality, creative spaces (Gash, 2016) and effective practice. Linking effectiveness and expediency, we explore how humour and playfulness can improve a coaching session (and as part of a longer programme) through learning about the tools of anticipation by a partial adherence to the principles of ontological coaching (Seiler, 2020). In addition, we examine the psychological, biological and neurological contexts in support of advancing coaching practice. We also explore how humour and its use in coaching psychology can support the very basic elements of human survival through helping people to grow and adapt to changing circumstances. We draw this proposition together by offering some reflections, stories and discussion to make the case for more research into this human phenomenon that can offer different options to executive coaches and coaching psychologists.

DeHumor: Visual Analytics for Decomposing Humor.

Despite being a critical communication skill, grasping humor is challenging-a successful use of humor requires a mixture of both engaging content build-up and an appropriate vocal delivery (e.g., pause). Prior studies on computational humor emphasize the textual and audio features immediately next to the punchline, yet overlooking longer-term context setup. Moreover, the theories are usually too abstract for understanding each concrete humor snippet. To fill in the gap, we develop DeHumor, a visual analytical system for analyzing humorous behaviors in public speaking. To intuitively reveal the building blocks of each concrete example, DeHumor decomposes each humorous video into multimodal features and provides inline annotations of them on the video script. In particular, to better capture the build-ups, we introduce content repetition as a complement to features introduced in theories of computational humor and visualize them in a context linking graph. To help users locate the punchlines that have the desired features to learn, we summarize the content (with keywords) and humor feature statistics on an augmented time matrix. With case studies on stand-up comedy shows and TED talks, we show that DeHumor is able to highlight various building blocks of humor examples. In addition, expert interviews with communication coaches and humor researchers demonstrate the effectiveness of DeHumor for multimodal humor analysis of speech content and vocal delivery.

Editor’s Column: Summoning the “Honest Spirit” of John Steinbeck: Back to Ireland

Editor’s Column: Summoning the “Honest Spirit” of John Steinbeck: Back to Ireland

Investigating Verbal Humor in Selected Mr. Iglesias Sitcom Shows Episodes

Humor can be found in people's daily life, movie, and stand-up comedy. People use it to criticize and entertain at the same time. In entertaining and criticizing a situation, humor can be in a form of a TV show or sitcom. This research focuses on verbal humor in a sitcom entitled Mr. Iglesias. This study aims to figure out the types of verbal humor using the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) by Attardo & Raskin (1991). This research examined five episodes of Mr. Iglesias’s shows from seasons 1 to 5 using a descriptive qualitative method. The results showed that this situation comedy has 58 expressions that employed linguistic humor. It could be classified into 8 of the 12 types of verbal humor. The six aspects of GTVH theory used to analyze the linguistic section were script opposition, logical mechanism, situation, target, narrative strategy, and language. Based on the six aspects of GTVH, this situational comedy indicated sarcasm as the most used verbal humor category.

The Role of Intersubjectivity in the Production and Appreciation of Humor

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of intersubjectivity in the production and appreciation of humor. Intersubjectivity is a concept in the phenomenological philosophy that explains the connection of humans to each other. Intersubjectivity can be used to explain the nature and way of humor works; supplementing the three existing theories of humor namely incongruity theory, superiority theory, and relief theory. This study is a literature review which data were obtained from 30 scientific articles related to humor, intersubjectivity, and the link between the two. Data were excavated using the https://www.connectedpapers.com software. The research stages taken in accordance with the stages of literature review include design, provision of literature (conduct), analysis, and presentation. The result showed that intersubjectivity has a role because it connects humor makers and connoisseurs through knowledge, feelings, awareness, and even mutual unconsciousness. Funny experiences can arise because makers and connoisseurs can access a “shared world” that allows a certain stimulation to bring out funny feelings that spark laughter. In the production and appreciation of humor intersubjectivity plays a role of (1) providing shared knowledge, (2) asserting the existence of emotions, and (3) directing the meaning of actions.

Gender, ethnic and class as humour strategies in stand-up comedy of Bovi, Kenny Blaq, Akpororo and Basket Mouth

Humour in Nigerian stand-up comedy is used as a weapon against the strong and the weak in society. Existing studies have examined the use of humour using the theories of pragmatics but have not specifically examined how gender, ethnic and class are reflected in stand-up comedies. Therefore, this study examines the humour strategies in selected Nigerian stand-up comedies with a view to identifying how gender, ethnic and class are reflected in the comedies. Attardo and Raskin’s general theory of verbal humour was adopted as framework. The data for the study were purposively collected from stand-up comedy performances of Bovi, Akpororo, Basket Mouth and Kenny Blaq on the YouTube channel. The comedians reflect gender, class and ethnic while narrating the events that surround the participants in the joke. These comedians primarily used Nigerian Pidgin in narrating the activity-in-the-joke. In the data collected for the study, the selected Nigerian stand-up comedians (SNSCs) operated on two main contexts: context-of-the-joke and context-in-the-joke. The SNSCs adopted different humour strategies such as comparison, distortion of shared knowledge, projection of collective belief and denigration. The SNSCs employ the strategies in their performances to expose certain facts about the issues surrounding man in the society, point out ills and to show their creativity.

Cuteness and everyday humour in Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet

This article analyses the elements that contribute to the specific kind of humour central to the comic strip series Strange Planet, one that combines humorous components with everyday situations. We will examine the main strategies behind the comic disjunction that dominates the work of Nathan W. Pyle. On the one hand, the graphic representation of cuteness enhances the candid banality of its everyday themes. On the other hand, the verbal discourse approaches the everyday with cold neutrality of the enunciations, provoking an ironic effect. In order to understand how these concepts apply to narrative in comics the article employs theories of humour and academic work on cuteness. The article also looks at how the strip optimizes its distribution through the internet.

니체, 프로이트, 웃음

This paper aims to examine Nietzsche's and Freud's theory of laughter from a depth-psychological perspective. The essential relationship between Nietzsche and psychoanalysis is that Nietzsche sees himself as a ‘doctor’ who heals a life suffering from the division of consciousness and unconsciousness. Therefore, this study focuses on Freud and Nietzsche that laughter plays the role of a doctor for humans who are sick due to the suppression of civilization to regain themselves and make them healthy. This paper first analyzes Nietzsche's and Freud's theory of laughter from the point of view of the liberation of the unconscious. To this end, we examine Nietzsche's and Freud's theory of laughter, focusing on the relationship between Nietzsche's and Freud's view of language with consciousness, and wit, a style of expression that embodies free spirit and the liberation of unconscious. Logicalizing and organizing reality is necessary for human life. However, it comes as a burden to us to standardize reality according to the law always. Sometimes logic and reason must be turned off, and if that is not possible, humans must at least rest from the concepts that suppress the life of emotions and impulses. For Nietzsche and Freud, laughter serves as a healing for humans to restore their original dynamic and spontaneous self.

Типологія конотативних особливостей гумористичного наративу

Specific markers of the humorous narrative of the literary text are articulated on the basis of the theory of humor, in particular, on such concepts as “incongruity” by A. Schopenhauer, the theory of superiority by T. Hobbes, and “liberation” by Z. Freud. The importance of a receptive reaction to the national criteria of a witticism, which produces humorous pathos, is emphasized. Besides, each literary century has its own specifics of creating the comic. The 20th century, against the background of epochal changes, primarily appeals to irony. The texts of J. Hašek (1883–1923), G. von Rezzori (1914–1998) and F. Iskander (1929–2016) are analyzed. Typologically, they are brought together by the “bokeh effect” (blurring of the background), here it is the historical events that are the background to the main problem that appear “blurred”. In J. Hašek’s unfinished novel “The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk” the illogic of the characters actions appears against the background of the absurdity of war. The fragmentary nature of all depicted events at first deforms the image of Švejk, emphasizing that he is an “absolute idiot”, the pretended idiocy of the hero ironically distorts reality. In a similar way, a humorous narrative is created in the work “Last Year’s Snow” by another quasi-Austrian − G. von Rezzori. The rhizomatic structure of the story together with the narrative, assimilated to a child’s consciousness, creates a comic effect of reception (as well as the quasi-childhood of Švejk). For a children’s narrative, one’s own experiences, rather than historical events, become central. A similar somewhat infantile leveling of reality creates situational comedy in F. Iskander’s stories about the Chik’s childhood. The narrator is also a child, but the author preserves the criteria of a children’s narrative (life-affirming humorous pathos, naive point of view, idealization, unchanged chronotope of childhood). Features of humor inherent in the works of quite different writers connotatively coincide in narrative points. They present the typological incongruence of comic means in creating a humorous narrative.

Do you know when you are the punchline? Gender-based disparagement humor and target perceptions

PurposeThis paper aims to draw upon extant theory and research to delineate the fundamental factors that impact how women evaluate disparaging humor directed at them. The conceptual framework presented outlines the most fundamental organizational-, interpersonal- and individual-level factors that influence the accuracy of such evaluation.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that offers both a review of extant humor and gender research and theory and the presentation of a theoretical model that classifies sources of influence on evaluations of sexist humor from the perspective of the target.FindingsOrganization-, interpersonal- and individual-level factors are identified as sources of influence on women’s perception and evaluation of sexist humor leveled at them. This classification identifies factors including organizational power dynamics, egalitarian norms, interpersonal trust, target self-esteem and feminist identity.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper offers a conceptual framework to guide future studies in more systematically examining the sources of influence on female targets’ capacity to recognize when they are the “punchline” of sexist humor.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model developed in this paper offers important implications for managers and leaders in organizations in assisting targets to recognize instances of sexist humor directed at them. The aim is to arm potential victims with the knowledge necessary to foster awareness of their treatment in the workplace and to improve the accuracy of evaluation of workplace attitudes that may often nurture a sense of approval or apathy regarding displays of sexist humor.Originality/valueThis paper presents a novel classification of sources of influence on female targets’ evaluation of sexist humor in the workplace.

Toward Moral Sublimity: Elements of a Theory of Humor

Abstract This article outlines a new theory of humor. The concept of humor is developed in the sense of five dialectical levels, respectively, sequential phenomenalities of humorous consciousness. These range from a level of most inferior (hurtful) humor up to a stage of most sublime humor. Systematically speaking, humor is viewed from an enhanced perspective of transcendental philosophy, namely as a medium of self-unfolding practical reason. It is considered as a complementary potency to the practical force of the latter’s regulative principle, and it fulfils several important functions. The first section provides basic definitions of concepts like humor, sublimity, comicality, etc. Here, the five phenomenalities of humor are introduced. The second section explores and develops these contents more in detail. Some references to the German-speaking tradition in the philosophy of humor provide further input for discussion. The third section presents a thought experiment. Imaginary humorous reactions of Socrates to ridicule and hostility are analyzed in the sense of the present theory.

The Argumentative “Logic” of Humor

ABSTRACT The logic of humor has been acknowledged as an essential dimension of every joke. However, what is the logic of jokes, exactly? The modern theories of humor maintain that jokes are characterized by their own logic, dubbed “pseudo,” “playful,” or “local,” which has been the object of frequent criticisms. This article intends to address the limitations of the current perspectives on the logic of jokes by proposing a rhetorical approach to humorous texts. Building on the traditional development of Aristotle’s almost neglected view of jokes as surprising enthymemes, the former are analyzed as rhetorical arguments. Like enthymemes, jokes are characterized by natural inferences that can be represented as topics, and quasi-formalized in argumentation theory as argumentation schemes. Like rhetorical arguments, jokes express a reason in support of different types of conclusions and proceed from distinct kinds of reasoning and semantic relations.