HUMOR THEORIES AND RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF JOKES AS UNIQUE SPEECH ACTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17605/Keywords:
Humor, superiority theory, relief theory, incongruity theory, speech acts.Abstract
This paper addresses the central philosophical inquiry into the nature of humour: what causes laughter? We will adopt the incongruity theory, which suggests that laughter is triggered by the perception of inconsistent elements within a statement. To support this, the study examines how linguistic pragmatics – specifically conversational implicatures, speech acts, and presuppositions are utilized in both written and spoken jokes to elicit amusement. While acknowledging that other factors, such as semantics, also play a role in comic disharmony, this analysis focuses on the pragmatic mechanics of humour. Finally, we will evaluate whether jokes constitute unique category of speech act rather than being merely a secondary linguistic function.
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