Communication linguistics revised as a theory of humor

Abstract

Humor is such an intrinsic part of our daily communication, we barely think about it, yet it is so complex in terms of its interface between language, culture and memory, that we can barely describe its complexities and subtleties, let alone account for them theoretically. In the last few years, however, there have been significant advances in this area. Reflecting on these has compelled me to reconsider how well my own theoretical orientation, Communication Linguistics, can describe humor and what revisions I feel compelled to make in order to contribute something to its discussion and analysis.

Keywords:

• humor
• communication linguistics
• contextual knowledge
• phasal analysis; planes of experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.