A Relevance-Theoretic Classification of Jokes
Relevance Theory pictures communication as an inferential activity that adjusts, in parallel, the explicit content of utterances, the implicated premises and conclusions that can be derived, and the right amount of contextual information needed to obtain them. When applied to jokes, a relevance-theoretic classification may be proposed depending on whether the humorist plays with the audience's inferential activity aimed at an explicit interpretation, with the audience's inference devoted to deriving implications or with their access to the right amount and quality of contextual information needed to obtain relevant interpretations. In this paper three types of jokes are proposed which focus on these aspects. A fourth type is also added, but this time referred to broad contextual assumptions on social or cultural values of society that are targeted by humorists.
References
Yus, Francisco. "Relevance theory." In Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Vol. 10, 2nd edition, edited by Keith Brown, 512-519. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00313-8Search in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Relevance theory." In The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis, edited by Bernd Heine and Heiko Narrog. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008 (forthcoming).Search in Google Scholar
Carston, Robyn. "Relevance theory and the saying/implicating distinction." UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 13 (2001): 1-34, doi: 10.1002/9780470756959.ch28.10.1002/9780470756959.ch28Search in Google Scholar
Curcó, Carmen. "Some observations on the pragmatics of humorous interpretations. A relevance-theoretic approach." UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 7 (1995): 27-47.Search in Google Scholar
Curcó, Carmen. "The implicit expression of attitudes, mutual manifestness and verbal humour." UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 8 (1996): 89-99.Search in Google Scholar
Curcó, Carmen. "Relevance and the manipulation of the incongruous: some explorations of verbal humour." In Proceedings of the University of Hertfordshire Relevance Theory Workshop, edited by Marjolein Groefsema, 68-72. Chelmsford: Peter Thomas and Associates, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Oaks, Dalin D. "Creating structural ambiguities in humor: getting English grammar to cooperate." Humor 7 (1994): 377-401.10.1515/humr.1994.7.4.377Search in Google Scholar
Ritchie, Graeme. "Developing the incongruity-resolution theory." In Proceedings of AISB Symposium on Creative Language: Stories and Humour, 78-85. Edinburgh, 1999.Search in Google Scholar
Ritchie, Graeme. "Metaphors in conversational context: Toward a connectivity theory of metaphor interpretation." Metaphor and Symbol 19.4 (2004a): 265-287, doi: 10.1207/s15327868ms1904_2.10.1207/s15327868ms1904_2Search in Google Scholar
Ritchie, Graeme. The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes. London: Routledge, 2004b.10.4324/9780203406953Search in Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson. Relevance: Communication and Cognition, 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.Search in Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson. "Pragmatics, modularity and mind-reading." Mind and Language 17.1-2 (2002): 3-23.10.1111/1468-0017.00186Search in Google Scholar
Suls, Jerry M. "A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons: An information-processing analysis." In The Psychology of Humor, edited by Jeffrey H. Goldstein and Paul E. McGhee, 81-100. New York: Academic Press, 1972.Search in Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre. "Relevance and understanding." In Language and Understanding, edited by Gillian Brown, Kirsten Malmkjær, Alastair Pollit and John Williams, 35-58. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre. and Robyn Carston. "Metaphor, relevance and the ‘emergent property’ issue." Mind & Language 21.3 (2006): 404-433, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2006.00284.x.10.1111/j.1468-0017.2006.00284.xSearch in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "La teoría de la relevancia y la estrategia humorística de la incongruencia-resolución." Pragmalingüística 3-4 (1997): 497-508.Search in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "A decade of relevance theory." Journal of Pragmatics 30 (1998): 305-345, doi: 10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00015-0.10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00015-0Search in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Misunderstandings and explicit/implicit communication." Pragmatics 9.4 (1999): 487-517.10.1075/prag.9.4.01yusSearch in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Stand-up comedy and cultural spread: The case of sex roles." Babel A.F.I.A.L., Special Issue on Humor Studies (2002): 245-292.Search in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Humor and the search for relevance." Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003): 1295-1331, doi: 10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00179-0.10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00179-0Search in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Pragmatics of humorous strategies in El club de la comedia" In Current Trends in the Pragmatics of Spanish, edited by Rosina Márquez-Reiter and Maria Elena Placencia, 320-344. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004.10.1075/pbns.123.25yusSearch in Google Scholar
Yus, Francisco. "Dave Allen's stand-up monologues: An epidemiological approach." In Thistles. A Homage to Brian Hughes. Vol. 2: Essays in Memoriam, edited by José Mateo and Francisco Yus, 317-344. Alicante: University of Alicante, Department of English Studies, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
This content is open access.
