Lexical priming in humorous discourse
VIEW FULL TEXT HERE

Keywords

lexical priming
collocation
jokes
liberation theory of humour

How to Cite

Goatly, A. (2017). Lexical priming in humorous discourse. The European Journal of Humour Research, 5(1), 52–68. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2017.5.1.goatly

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between lexical priming and humour. Since incongruity, unpredictability and ambiguity are often associated with humour theory, the article explores the possibility that many jokes or unintended humour depend upon the overriding of lexical priming. Using the Cobuild Bank of English to investigate priming using collocational statistics, the article analyses eight jokes/humorous utterances to demonstrate and test this possibility. While in many cases humour can be explained by cancelling priming, there are some interesting exceptions which are discussed. Finally, an attempt is made to place the idea of cancelling lexical priming in the context of the theory of humour as liberation.

https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2017.5.1.goatly
VIEW FULL TEXT HERE

References

Attardo, S. (1994). Linguistic Theories of Humour. Berlin, New York: Mouton.

Attardo, S. (2001). Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis. Berlin, New York: Mouton.

Attardo, S., & Raskin, V. (1991). ‘Script theory revisited: joke similarity and joke representation model’. Humor: International Journal of Humour Research (53/4), pp. 293-347.

Bain, A. (1865). The Emotions and the Will. 2nd edition. Harlow: Longmans.

Carr, J. & Greeves, L. (2007). The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Chafe, W. (2007). The Importance of not Being Earnest. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Chiaro, D. (1992). The Language of Jokes: Analysing Verbal Play. London: Routledge

Freud, S. (1905). Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Leipzig: Deuticke.

Giora, R. (1995). ‘On irony and negation’. Discourse Processes 19, pp. 239-264.

Goatly, A. (2012). Meaning and Humour. Cambridge: CUP

Hoey, M. (2005). Lexical Priming: A New Theory of Words and Language. London: Routledge.

Nash, W. (1985). The Language of Humour. Harlow: Longman.

Raskin, V. (1985). Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Dordrecht-Boston-Lancaster: D. Reidel.

Ritchie, G. (2004). The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes. London and New York: Routledge.

Simpson, P. (2003). On the Discourse of Satire. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Sinclair, J. M. (1991). Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spencer, H. (1864). ‘The physiology of laughter’, in Spencer, H., Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative, Second series, New York: D. Appleton.

Tabossi, P. (1989). ‘What’s in a context?’, In David S. Gorfein (ed.) Resolving Semantic Ambiguity. Berlin: Springer Verlag. 25-39.

Tibballs, G. (2006). The Mammoth Book of Jokes. London: Robinson.

All authors agree to an Attribution Non-Commercial Non Derivative Creative Commons License on their work.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.