Victor Raskin’s overlooked analysis of political jokes
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Villy Tsakona
Abstract
In his seminal book on the Semantic Script Theory of Humor, Raskin employs, among other kinds of jokes, a corpus of political jokes to apply the theory and demonstrate its analytical potential. Still, research on political jokes, even within linguistics, appears to have so far overlooked Raskin’s analysis and classification of political jokes. The present study attempts to use this classification to investigate contemporary political jokes referring to the current Greek financial crisis in order to underscore the validity and significance of Raskin’s proposal. By tracing both similarities and differences between Raskin’s data and the Greek ones, it is argued that Raskin’s classification constitutes a useful heuristic tool for the analysis of political jokes, which could be further exploited and enriched to bring to the surface the particularities of political jokes originating in diverse linguocultural and sociopolitical contexts.
Abstract
In his seminal book on the Semantic Script Theory of Humor, Raskin employs, among other kinds of jokes, a corpus of political jokes to apply the theory and demonstrate its analytical potential. Still, research on political jokes, even within linguistics, appears to have so far overlooked Raskin’s analysis and classification of political jokes. The present study attempts to use this classification to investigate contemporary political jokes referring to the current Greek financial crisis in order to underscore the validity and significance of Raskin’s proposal. By tracing both similarities and differences between Raskin’s data and the Greek ones, it is argued that Raskin’s classification constitutes a useful heuristic tool for the analysis of political jokes, which could be further exploited and enriched to bring to the surface the particularities of political jokes originating in diverse linguocultural and sociopolitical contexts.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
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Part 1: Script-based semantics
- Scripts, frames, and other semantic objects 11
- Script-based approach towards taxis connectors 43
- Ontological and grammatical constraints on metaphor productivity 55
- Meaning amalgamation, phrasal stress, and earning money 77
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Part 2: Humor
- Knowledge about humor 93
- Domains of humor: Challenges from psychology 115
- Victor Raskin’s overlooked analysis of political jokes 139
- Joke construction and joke structure 167
- ‘Stop kidding, I’m serious’: Failed humor in French conversations 191
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Part 3: Ontological semantics
- Scripts in the Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor 229
- Which fuzzy logic operations are most appropriate for ontological semantics: Theoretical explanation of empirical observations 257
- Decoding intricacies of human nature from social network communications 269
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Part 4: Other applications
- A creative approach for linguistic funny business: Using linguistic paradigms and taxonomies 281
- Tourism after the Arab Spring in Tunisia: An analysis of advertising campaigns 305
- Names Index 315
- Subject Index 321
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Script-based semantics
- Scripts, frames, and other semantic objects 11
- Script-based approach towards taxis connectors 43
- Ontological and grammatical constraints on metaphor productivity 55
- Meaning amalgamation, phrasal stress, and earning money 77
-
Part 2: Humor
- Knowledge about humor 93
- Domains of humor: Challenges from psychology 115
- Victor Raskin’s overlooked analysis of political jokes 139
- Joke construction and joke structure 167
- ‘Stop kidding, I’m serious’: Failed humor in French conversations 191
-
Part 3: Ontological semantics
- Scripts in the Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor 229
- Which fuzzy logic operations are most appropriate for ontological semantics: Theoretical explanation of empirical observations 257
- Decoding intricacies of human nature from social network communications 269
-
Part 4: Other applications
- A creative approach for linguistic funny business: Using linguistic paradigms and taxonomies 281
- Tourism after the Arab Spring in Tunisia: An analysis of advertising campaigns 305
- Names Index 315
- Subject Index 321
