Verbal humor without switching scripts and without non-bona fide communication

John Morreall

doi:10.1515/humr.2004.17.4.393

Enjoy 40% off

academic books on De Gruyter Brill *

Article

Verbal humor without switching scripts and without non-bona fide communication

John Morreall

Published/Copyright: July 27, 2005

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal Volume 17 Issue 4

Abstract

According to Raskin's script-theory, five factors are necessary for verbal humor: 1) a switch from the bona fide mode of communication to the non-bona fide mode of joke-telling; 2) the text of an intended joke; 3) two (partially) overlapping scripts compatible with the text; 4) an oppositeness relation between the two scripts; and 5) a trigger, obvious or implied, realizing the oppositeness relation. I argue that although this theory works well with prepared fictional jokes, it does not explain all verbal humor. The reason is that prepared fictional jokes are a sophisticated kind of verbal humor with features which are not shared by other kinds of verbal humor. I illustrate with examples of semantic, phonetic, and pragmatic techniques for creating verbal humor without switching scripts and/or without switching to non-bona fide communication.

Keywords: Raskin; script theory; verbal humor; joke; bona fide

Correspondence address: jsmorr@wm.edu

Published Online: 2005-07-27

Published in Print: 2004-09-23

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.2004.17.4.393

Keywords for this article

Raskin; script theory; verbal humor; joke; bona fide