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Part of
Exploring the Sociopragmatics of Online Humor
Villy Tsakona
[Topics in Humor Research 12] 2024
► pp. vii–x

Table of contents

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1.Humor and context within the (socio)pragmatic theories of humor 10
1.1Introductory remarks 10
1.2Context in competence theories of humor 11
1.3Context in other approaches to humor 16
1.4Towards a more contextualized version of the General Theory of Verbal Humor 25
1.5Attardo’s proposal on a performance theory of humor 27
1.6Kuipers’ conceptualization of the knowledge about humor 30
1.7The Discourse Theory of Humor 32
1.8Summary 37
Chapter 2.Humorous and non-humorous interpretations of attempts at humor – or why humor may fail 39
2.1Introductory remarks 39
2.2Metapragmatics and the study of humor 40
2.3On humor failure and success 47
2.4Humor failure and the Discourse Theory of Humor 51
2.5The data of the case study 52
2.6Data analysis 54
2.7Discussion 63
2.8Summary 64
Chapter 3.Humor as metapragmatic commentary on language use – or how people attempt to regulate language use through humor 66
3.1Introductory remarks 66
3.2On memes and their metapragmatic function 68
3.3Greek traditionalist grammar memes: Humorous memes about the cooking contest Master Chef Greece 72
3.3.1Interpreting standard and/or prestigious varieties as dialectal Greek 77
3.3.2Expanding the use of the dialect of Ioannina 82
3.3.3Discussion 85
3.4Greek backlash memes: Humorous memes about the translation of English loanwords into Greek 86
3.4.1Inappropriate connotations 92
3.4.2Uncommon and unusable translation equivalents 93
3.4.3Lower or higher inappropriate style 94
3.4.4‘Bad’ English 96
3.4.5Informal versus formal Greek 97
3.4.6Corrective acts are incongruous 98
3.4.7Discussion 99
3.5Summary 102
Chapter 4.Humorous ambiguity – or why humor may engender diverse and contradictory interpretations 103
4.1Introductory remarks 103
4.2On humor and social discrimination 104
4.3The co-existence of racist and antiracist discourse 107
4.4The genre of satirical news 109
4.5Data description 112
4.6Data analysis 113
4.6.1Explicitly denigrating racists 114
4.6.2Mocking those trivializing migrants’ lives 116
4.6.3Targeting those who act for the benefit of migrants 120
4.7Discussion 123
4.8Summary 124
Chapter 5.Evaluation and intertextuality in humorous discourse – or how speakers create social groups through humor 126
5.1Introductory remarks 126
5.2The evaluative/critical dimension of humor 127
5.3Intertextuality and humor 131
5.4The data of the study 133
5.5Data analysis 135
5.5.1Serious critical posts 135
5.5.2Humorous critical verbal posts 138
5.5.3Humorous critical memes 142
5.6Discussion 147
5.7Summary 149
Chapter 6.Humor and critical literacy – or what and how we can learn about humor from its sociopragmatic analysis 150
6.1Introductory remarks 150
6.2Why teach about humor? 152
6.3What is critical literacy? 154
6.4Why teach about the sociopragmatics of humor within a critical literacy framework? 160
6.5Designing critical literacy courses on humor 164
6.6A critical literacy approach to pandemic memes: Setting the agenda 167
6.7Humor and memes during the COVID-19 pandemic 168
6.8Classical art memes 173
6.9The aims and data of the analysis 176
6.10Data analysis 180
6.10.1AF3/Text 181
6.10.1.1Recontextualized portraits 184
6.10.1.2Recontextualized interactions 185
6.10.1.3Recontextualized paintings through meme producers’ commentary 186
6.10.1.4Compositions including recontextualized paintings 187
6.10.1.4.1Combinations of different paintings 187
6.10.1.4.2Compositions made of the same painting 188
6.10.1.4.3Compositions of paintings and contemporary photos 190
6.10.1.5Summarizing the analysis in AF3/Text terms 191
6.10.2AF2/Genre 192
6.10.2.1The sociopragmatic functions of pandemic memes 193
6.10.2.1.1Pandemic memes as sociopolitical criticism 194
6.10.2.1.2Pandemic memes as coping and bonding mechanisms 198
6.10.2.1.3In between criticism and coping/bonding: Pandemic memes about the ‘new normal’ 202
6.10.2.2Generic hybridization in pandemic memes 205
6.10.2.3Summarizing the analysis in AF2/Genre terms 211
6.10.3The analysis in AF1/Sociocultural Assumptions terms 213
6.11Scrutinizing pandemic memes in class 214
6.11.1Students’ collection of humorous data 214
6.11.2Teachers’ familiarity with humor theory 215
6.11.3Critical readings of humorous discourse 215
6.11.4Debating diverse interpretations of humorous discourse 221
6.11.5A comparative perspective – humorous vs. non-humorous discourse 221
6.11.6Sharing perspectives in new texts 222
6.12Summary 223
Chapter 7.Conclusions 224
References 227
Name index 259
Subject index 263