Cover not available
Part of
Beyond Meaning
Edited by Elly Ifantidou, Louis de Saussure and Tim Wharton
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 324] 2021
► pp. 119–132

Humorous means, serious messages

A relevance-theoretic perspective on telling jokes to communicate propositional meaning

| University of Warsaw

Drawing on the observation that speakers may use jokes as stylistic devices to communicate propositional meanings, this paper offers a relevance-theoretic account of pragmatic mechanisms involved in this kind of communication, dubbed ‘meaningful jokes.’ First, I argue that the comprehension of any joke not only relies on the hearer’s background knowledge, but may also lead to the modification of beliefs. Then I explore selected forms of expression which potentially bear affinity to meaningful jokes, such as fiction, metaphors, allegories, and irony. Finally, I postulate that meaningful jokes rely on a unique propositional attitude and emergent implicatures resulting from the incongruity between the joke’s scenario and a real-life situation in which it was intended to be relevant.

Keywords: humour, jokes, propositional meaning, fiction, allegory, metaphor, irony, emergent implicatures, propositional attitude
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Understanding and enjoying jokes – a relevance-theoretic perspective
  • 3.The relevance of fiction and tropes vs. jokes
  • 4.What jokes tell us about the work of a physicist and the dangers of social media
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.324.c7
References
Carston, Robyn
2010 “Metaphor: Ad hoc Concepts, Literal Meaning and Mental Images.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 110 (3): 295‒321. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carston, Robyn, and Catherine Wearing
2011 “Metaphor, Hyperbole and Simile: A Pragmatic Approach.” Language and Cognition 3 (2): 283‒312. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Curcó, Carmen
1995 “Some Observations on the Pragmatics of Humorous Interpretations. A Relevance-Theoretic Approach.” UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 7: 27‒47.Google Scholar
Dynel, Marta
2009 “Beyond a Joke: Types of Conversational Humour.” Language and Linguistics Compass 3 (5): 1284‒1299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “When Does Irony Tickle the Hearer? Towards Capturing the Characteristics of Humorous Irony.” In Developments in Linguistic Humour Theory, ed. by Marta Dynel, 289‒320. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 Irony, Humour and Deception. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jodłowiec, Maria
1991 “What Makes Jokes Tick.” UCL Working Papers in Linguistics3: 241‒253.Google Scholar
2015 The Challenges of Explicit and Implicit Communication. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuipers, Giselinde
2008 “The Sociology of Humor.” In The Primer of HumorResearch, ed. by Victor Raskin, 361‒398. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, Rod
2007 The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morreall, John
2016 “Philosophy of Humor.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), ed. by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed February 28, 2019. [URL].
Mulkay, Michael
1988 On Humour: Its Nature and Its Place in Modern Society. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Müller, Ralph
2015 “A Metaphorical Perspective on Humour.” In Cognitive Linguistics and Humor Research, ed. by Geert Brône, Kurt Feyaerts, and Tony Veale, 111‒128. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Neal R
2003 “Issues in Conversational Joking.” Journal of Pragmatics 35: 1333‒1359. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oring, Eliott
2003 Engaging Humor. Urbana: University of Illinois.Google Scholar
Piskorska, Agnieszka
2012 “Cognition and Emotions – A Joint Effort at Obtaining Positive Cognitive Effects?” In Relevance Studies in Poland, ed. by Agnieszka Piskorska, 102‒111. Vol. 4 of Essays on Language and Communication. Warsaw: WUW.Google Scholar
2014 “A Relevance-Theoretic Perspective on Humorous Irony and Its Failure.” HUMOR27 (4): 661‒85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “Perlocutionary Effects and Relevance Theory.” In Relevance Theory: Recent Developments, Current Challenges and Future Directions, ed. by Manuel Padilla Cruz, 287‒305. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piskorska, Agnieszka, and Maria Jodłowiec
2018 “Weak Communication, Joke Target and the Punch-Line Effect: A Relevance-Theoretic Account.” Studies in Polish Linguistics 13 (1): 25‒44.Google Scholar
Solska, Agnieszka
2012 “The Relevance of the Juxtaposition of Meanings in Puns.” In Exploring Language Through Contrast, ed. by Waldemar Skrzypczak, Tomasz Fojt, and Sławomir Wacewicz, 184‒200. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan, and Deirdre Wilson
(1986) 1995 Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
1987 “Precis of Relevance.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 10: 697‒754. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 “A Deflationary Account of Metaphors.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ed. by Raymond W. Gibbs, 84‒105. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Beyond Speaker’s Meaning.” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 15 (44): 117‒149.Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan, Fabrice Clément, Christophe Heintz, Olivier Mascaro, Hugo Mercier, Gloria Origgi, and Deirdre Wilson
2010 “Epistemic Vigilance.” Mind and Language 24 (4): 359‒393. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suls, Jerry M
1972 “A Two-Stage Model for the Appreciation of Jokes and Cartoons: An Information-Processing Analysis.” In The Psychology of Humor: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Issues, ed. by Jeffrey H. Goldstein, and Paul E. McGhee, 81‒100. New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unger, Christoph
2017 “Towards a Relevance-Theoretic Account of Allegory.” In Applications of Relevance Theory: From Discourse to Morphemes, ed. by Agnieszka Piskorska, and Ewa Wałaszewska, 152‒174. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Wharton, Tim, and Claudia Strey
2019 “Slave to the Passions: Making Emotions Relevant.” In Relevance. Pragmatics and Interpretation, ed. by Kate Scott, Billy Clark, and Robyn Carston, 253‒267. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre
2006 “The Pragmatics of Verbal Irony: Echo or Pretence?” Lingua116: 1722‒1743. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 “Relevance Theory and Literary Interpretation.” In Reading Beyond the Code: Literature and Relevance Theory, ed. by Terrence Cave, and Deirdre Wilson, 185‒204. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre, and Robyn Carston
2007 “Metaphor and the ‘Emergent Property’ Problem: A Relevance-Theoretic Approach.” Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 3: 1‒40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 “Pragmatics and the Challenge of ‘Non-propositional’ Effects.” Journal of Pragmatics 145: 31‒38. DOI logo.
Wilson, Deirdre, and Dan Sperber
2004 “Relevance Theory.” In Handbook of Pragmatics, ed. by G. Ward, and L.Horn, 607‒632. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2012 Relevance and Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yus, Francisco
2003 “Humor and the Search for Relevance.” Journal of Pragmatics 35 (9): 1295‒1331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “An Inference-Centered Analysis of Jokes: The Intersecting Circles Model of Humorous Communication.” In Irony and Humor: Highlights and Genres, ed. by Leonor Ruiz Gurillo, and M. Belén Alvarado Ortega, 59‒82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Humour and Relevance. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ziv, Avner
2009 “The Social Function of Humor in Interpersonal Relationships.” Society 47 (1):11‒18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar