The semantics of humor

This chapter opens the second part of the book on humor competence (chapters 6-9). This chapter introduces Raskin’s semantic theory of humor competence based on scripts (Semantic-Script Theory of Humor, SSTH). The concept of script (or frame) is introduced. Dynamic scripts (i.e., scripts that are updated with new informatiom) are described as well as the mechanics of combinations of word senses and disambiguation. The two conditions for a text to be a joke are described: 1) two scripts must be opposite, and 2) they must overlap fully or in part, i.e., be compatible with (parts of) the text. The pragmatic aspects of the SSTH are also discussed, with the idea of non-bona-fide communication, i.e., communication not entirely focused on cooperative (in the Gricean sense) communication. Finally, the recent development of Ontological semantics and its application to humor is discussed.

NIKOLAI SIDELNIKOV'S SPIRITUAL WORKS AS A REFLECTION OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF CULTURE

The article contains the analysis of the Nikolai Sidelnikov’s spiritual art from the standpoint of the XXth-century philosophical and religious beliefs in terms of cultural and religious interactions. It is highlighted that the master is interested not in any particular national or religious tradition but in culture in general. In the author’s spiritual works the word concentrates the sacred meaning, while music doesn’t distract one’s attention from the word perception, but gives its accompaniment in a meaningful way. The composer enriches traditional spiritual music with his own ideas, which are attuned to the ideas of the greatest representatives of Russian religious philosophy. Nikolai Sidelnikov’s musical language is full of profound symbolism; it becomes a holder of ontological semantics embodied in his spiritual works.

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

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.