Incongruity in humor: Root cause or epiphenomenon?

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Veale
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Good Effect ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Violation Of Expectation

AbstractHumor and incongruity appear to be constant bedfellows, for at the heart of every joke one can point to some degree of absurdity, illogicality, or violation of expectation. This observation has lead many theories of humor to base themselves around some notion of incongruity or opposition, most notably the semantic-script theory (or SSTH) of Raskin and the subsequent general theory (or GTVH) of Attardo and Raskin. But correlation does not imply causality (a reality used to good effect in many successful examples of humor), and one should question whether incongruity serves a causal role in the workings and appreciation of humor or merely an epiphenomenal one. It remains a key question for humor researchers as to whether listeners react to incongruities by constructing humorous interpretations, or whether they collaboratively create these incongruities as a result of opportunistically constructing humorous interpretations.

Humor in Language

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Attardo
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Multimodal Data ◽  
Group Solidarity

Interest in the linguistics of humor is widespread and dates since classical times. Several theoretical models have been proposed to describe and explain the function of humor in language. The most widely adopted one, the semantic-script theory of humor, was presented by Victor Raskin, in 1985. Its expansion, to incorporate a broader gamut of information, is known as the General Theory of Verbal Humor. Other approaches are emerging, especially in cognitive and corpus linguistics. Within applied linguistics, the predominant approach is analysis of conversation and discourse, with a focus on the disparate functions of humor in conversation. Speakers may use humor pro-socially, to build in-group solidarity, or anti-socially, to exclude and denigrate the targets of the humor. Most of the research has focused on how humor is co-constructed and used among friends, and how speakers support it. Increasingly, corpus-supported research is beginning to reshape the field, introducing quantitative concerns, as well as multimodal data and analyses. Overall, the linguistics of humor is a dynamic and rapidly changing field.

Parsing the joke: The General Theory of Verbal Humor and appropriate incongruity

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Oring
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Script Theory

AbstractFor more than a quarter of a century, the Semantic Script Theory of Humor (SSTH) and its successor, the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH), have been employed to characterize the factors that define a joke, to describe the components of jokes and their interrelationships, and to provide a model for the analysis of joke texts. But these theories have never been adequately scrutinized. When approached from the perspective of

scholarly journals Towards a comprehensive theory of culturally constructed humour

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sajjad Kianbakht
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
Cultural Schemas ◽  
Different Types

In the present research, we discuss Humour Studies within Linguistics, focusing mainly on linguistic theories of humour including the Semantic Script Theory of Humour (SSTH; Raskin 1985), and the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH; Attardo 1994, 2017b). The study demonstrates different types of cultural conceptualisations (Sharifian 2017a, 2017b) that the interlocutors draw upon, such as cultural categories, cultural metaphors, and cultural schemas to create humour, and we argue that the General Theory of Verbal Humour does not account for culturally-constructed verbal humour. Hence, we argue that it is necessary to fill this gap in the most prevailing theory of verbal humour, the General Theory of Verbal Humour, by demonstrating how cultural conceptualisations must be considered in identifying and analysing instantiations of humour, in moving towards a comprehensive theory of culturally constructed humour.

Humor in literature

2020 ◽  
pp. 319-339
Author(s):  
Salvatore Attardo
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Humor In Literature

This chapter considers applications of the linguistics of humor to literary texts. It considers in particular applications of the Semantic-Script Theory of Humor (SSTH) and the General theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH), under two approaches: the expansionist approach, which applies the SSTH as is to larger texts, and the revisionist approach, which introduces a set of other tools for the analysis of longer texts, among which is the distinction between punch lines and jab lines. Other approaches are also considered including narratological, stylistic, and register humor.

Oppositions, overlaps, and ontologies: The general theory of verbal humor revisited

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Oring
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Ontological Semantics ◽  
Humor Theory ◽  
Humor Studies ◽  
Language Input

Abstract The General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) has dominated the discussion of humor theory for the last quarter of a century. It generated a great deal of interest in humor studies by scholars both within and outside the discipline of linguistics. Problems are resident in GTVH, however, which have been inherited from its predecessor the Semantic Script Theory of Humor (SSTH). Script Opposition and Script Overlap are not adequately defined, nor are they sufficient for the identification of a joke-carrying text. The resource of the Logical Mechanism posited by GTVH may have complicated rather than simplified the matter as the list of proposed mechanisms are too loosely defined and woefully incomplete. The Ontological Semantics Theory of Humor (OSTH) has promised to demonstrate the adequacy of the linguistic theories of humor by the ability of computers to process natural language input to discriminate between joke-carrying and non-joke-carrying texts. That promise, also decades old, remains to be fulfilled, and it is questionable whether it can be fulfilled if based on SSTH and GTVH platforms.

Extreme self-sacrifice beyond fusion: Moral expansiveness and the special case of allyship

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Crimston ◽  
Matthew J. Hornsey
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Biological Markers ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Relevant Dimension ◽  
Special Case

AbstractAs a general theory of extreme self-sacrifice, Whitehouse's article misses one relevant dimension: people's willingness to fight and die in support of entities not bound by biological markers or ancestral kinship (allyship). We discuss research on moral expansiveness, which highlights individuals’ capacity to self-sacrifice for targets that lie outside traditional in-group markers, including racial out-groups, animals, and the natural environment.

Application Of Electron Microscopy To Automotive Finish Defect Analysis

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-259
Author(s):  
Martin J. Mahon ◽  
Patrick W. Keating ◽  
John T. McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Zero Tolerance ◽  
Polymeric Materials ◽  
Plant Management ◽  
Defect Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Cutting Out ◽  
Foreign Materials ◽  
Automotive Finish

Coatings are applied to appliances, instruments and automobiles for a variety of reasons including corrosion protection and enhancement of market value. Automobile finishes are a highly complex blend of polymeric materials which have a definite impact on the eventual ability of a car to sell. Consumers report that the gloss of the finish is one of the major items they look for in an automobile.With the finish being such an important part of the automobile, there is a zero tolerance for paint defects by auto assembly plant management. Owing to the increased complexity of the paint matrix and its inability to be “forgiving” when foreign materials are introduced into a newly applied finish, the analysis of paint defects has taken on unparalleled importance. Scanning electron microscopy with its attendant x-ray analysis capability is the premier method of examining defects and attempting to identify their root cause.Defects are normally examined by cutting out a coupon sized portion of the autobody and viewing in an SEM at various angles.

Do Writing Directions Influence How People Map Space onto Time?

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Wenxing Yang ◽  
Ying Sun
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representations ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Temporal Cognition ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Psychological Experiments ◽  
Vertical Up

Abstract. The causal role of a unidirectional orthography in shaping speakers’ mental representations of time seems to be well established by many psychological experiments. However, the question of whether bidirectional writing systems in some languages can also produce such an impact on temporal cognition remains unresolved. To address this issue, the present study focused on Japanese and Taiwanese, both of which have a similar mix of texts written horizontally from left to right (HLR) and vertically from top to bottom (VTB). Two experiments were performed which recruited Japanese and Taiwanese speakers as participants. Experiment 1 used an explicit temporal arrangement design, and Experiment 2 measured implicit space-time associations in participants along the horizontal (left/right) and the vertical (up/down) axis. Converging evidence gathered from the two experiments demonstrate that neither Japanese speakers nor Taiwanese speakers aligned their vertical representations of time with the VTB writing orientation. Along the horizontal axis, only Japanese speakers encoded elapsing time into a left-to-right linear layout, which was commensurate with the HLR writing direction. Therefore, two distinct writing orientations of a language could not bring about two coexisting mental time lines. Possible theoretical implications underlying the findings are discussed.

Root Cause Analyses of Suicides of Mental Health Clients

Crisis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 316-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Gillies ◽  
David Chicop ◽  
Paul O'Halloran
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Data Collection Tool ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Communication Problems ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Mental Health Clients ◽  
Imminent Risk

Abstract. Background: The ability to predict imminent risk of suicide is limited, particularly among mental health clients. Root cause analysis (RCA) can be used by health services to identify service-wide approaches to suicide prevention. Aims: To (a) develop a standardized taxonomy for RCAs; (b) to quantitate service-related factors associated with suicides; and (c) to identify service-related suicide prevention strategies. Method: The RCAs of all people who died by suicide within 1 week of contact with the mental health service over 5 years were thematically analyzed using a data collection tool. Results: Data were derived from RCAs of all 64 people who died by suicide between 2008 and 2012. Major themes were categorized as individual, situational, and care-related factors. The most common factor was that clients had recently denied suicidality. Reliance on carers, recent changes in medication, communication problems, and problems in follow-through were also commonly identified. Conclusion: Given the difficulty in predicting suicide in people whose expressions of suicidal ideation change so rapidly, services may consider the use of strategies aimed at improving the individual, stressor, support, and care factors identified in this study.

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