The Language of Comic Narratives: Humor Construction in Short Stories (Humor Research)

275 Pages·2008·1.02 MB·English

by  Ermida

The Language of Comic Narratives
≥
Humor Research 9
Editors
Victor Raskin
Willibald Ruch
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
The Language of Comic Narratives
Humor Construction in Short Stories
by
Isabel Ermida
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
MoutondeGruyter(formerlyMouton,TheHague)
isaDivisionofWalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,Berlin.
(cid:2)(cid:2) Printedonacid-freepaperwhichfallswithintheguidelines
oftheANSItoensurepermanenceanddurability.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ermida,Isabel,1968(cid:2)
The language of comic narratives : humor construction in short
stories/byIsabelErmida.
p.cm.(cid:2)(Humorresearch;9)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-3-11-020514-5(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Shortstory(cid:2)Authorship. 2.Humorinliterature. I.Title.
PN3373.E66 2008
808.311(cid:2)dc22
2008035951
ISBN 978-3-11-020514-5
ISSN 1861-4116
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableintheInternetat(cid:3)http://dnb.d-nb.de(cid:4).
”Copyright2008byWalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,D-10785Berlin
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Coverdesign:ChristopherSchneider,Berlin.
PrintedinGermany.
Contents
List oftablesandfigures ix
Foreword xi
Chapter1
Theconceptofhumor:history, scopeandissues 1
Introduction 1
1. Matterandmanner 1
2. Taxonomicsystems 3
3. Lexicological evolution 4
4. Conceptualsatellitesofhumor 5
4.1. Laughter 5
4.2. Wit 8
4.3. Irony 11
5. Humortheories 14
5.1. Disparagementtheory 15
5.2. Releasetheory 22
5.3. Incongruitytheory 25
6. Ontogenetics andphilogenetics ofhumor 31
7. Humorasacommunicativeact 34
8. Conclusion 39
Chapter2
Linguistic resourcesofhumor 41
Introduction 41
1. Sound 42
1.1. Thephoneticpun 42
1.2. Mimesis 45
1.3. Stylistic devices 48
1.3.1. Rhymeandrhythm 48
1.3.2. Alliteration andassonance 50
2. Writtenform:graphologicalgames 52
3. Word:morphologicalplay 55
4. Sentence:syntacticambiguity 57
5. Meaning 61
5.1. Paradigmaticinversion 61
5.2. Thelexicalpun 63
5.3. Setsandscales 66
vi Contents
5.4. Mechanismsofdisplacement 68
5.5. Logicalirregularities 70
5.6. Nonsense 74
5.7. Possible worlds 76
6. Conclusion 80
Chapter3
Humorasatextual genre:fromjokestocomicnarratives 83
Introduction 83
1. Semanticscripttheoryofhumor 84
1.1. Theconceptofscript 84
1.2. Combinatorialrules 85
1.3. Humor,bona-fidecommunicationandthenotion oftruth 86
1.4. Scriptoverlapandscriptopposition 88
1.5. Anexample 89
2. Generaltheoryofverbalhumor 90
2.1. Knowledgeresources 91
2.2. JokevariationandKRhierarchy 93
2.3. A‘general’theory 93
3. Cognitive jokemodel 94
3.1. Operationalconcepts:informativenessandmarkedness 94
3.2. Conditions forjokewell-formedness 97
3.3. Anexample 98
4. Linguistic approachestocomicnarratives 99
4.1. Morin’sdisjunctive articulation 100
4.2. Nash’smodesofcomicexpansion 101
4.3. Chlopicki’sapplication ofscripttheorytoshortstories 103
4.4. Palmer’ssemantico-pragmaticframework 105
4.5. Holcomb:nodalhumorincomicnarratives 107
4.6. Attardo’slinearmodel 108
5. Conclusion 110
Chapter4
Structuralprinciplesofnarrativehumor 113
Introduction 113
1. Narrativedimensions 113
2. Structure,modelandwhole 115
3. Cohesionandcoherence 116
4. Narrativeunits 117
Contents vii
5. Organizationofnarrativeunits 120
5.1. Sequencing:horizontalconfiguration 121
5.2. Hierarchy:verticalconfiguration 124
5.2.1. Fromsentencegrammartostorygrammar 124
5.2.2. Theconceptofnarrativemacrostructure 126
6. Limitations ofnarrativestructureanalysis 128
7. Conclusion 130
Chapter5
Pragmaticsofthehumorousnarrative 131
Introduction 131
1. Narrationandothermodesofdiscourse 131
2. Humoroustextandcontext 132
2.1. Situational humorand‘canned’humor 133
2.2. Writtenvarrativeversusconversation 134
2.3. Overlappingutterancelevels 136
2.4. Theliteraryspecificityofthehumorousshortstory 138
3. Theprincipleofhumoroustransgression 140
4. Breakingthecommunicativecontract 142
4.1. Illocutionaryambiguity 142
4.2. Humorous‘(in)felicities’ 144
4.3. Infringingconversational maxims 146
4.4. Predictabilityandconvention 149
5. Theunsaidinnarrativehumor 151
5.1. Presuppositions 153
5.2. Implicatures 158
6. Humorousintertextuality: allusionandparody 162
7. Narrative,literaryandhumorouscooperation 164
8. Conclusion 168
Chapter6
Amodelofhumorousnarratives 171
Introduction 171
1. Ahypothesis 172
2. Acasestudy:TheLunatic’sTale(1975),byWoodyAllen 173
2.1. Structuringthehumorouscycle 174
2.1.1. Settingthehumorousmode:creatinganopposition 175
2.1.2. Developing thehumorousmode:recurrenceand
predictability 176
2.1.3. Closing thecycle:informativenessandsurprise 179
viii Contents
2.2. Asupra-structuralsemanticopposition 181
2.2.1. Lexicality,inferenceandfunctionality:criteriaofscript
identification 181
2.2.2. Determiningthescopeandlimitsofscripts 183
2.2.3. Lexico-semanticnuclei 184
2.2.4. Presuppositions andimplicatures 186
2.3. Levelsofscriptopposition 189
2.3.1. Supra-andinfra-scripts 190
2.3.2. Scripthierarchyandhyponymy 193
2.3.3. Extratextual scripts:allusion 195
2.4. Stylistic aidstohumorousopposition 200
2.4.1. Registerclash 200
2.4.2. Hyperbole 201
2.4.3. Irony 203
3. Conclusion 204
Chapter7
Extendingtheanalysis 207
Introduction 207
1. TheNorris Plan (1927)byCoreyFord:parody 207
2. OnGuard (1936)byEvelynWaugh:blackhumor 212
3. YouWerePerfectlyFine(1939)byDorothyParker:irony 218
4. AShockingAccident (1972)byGrahamGreene:sarcasm 223
5. HoteldesBoobs (1986)byDavidLodge:meta-humor 227
6. Counter-examples 232
7. Conclusion 234
References 237
Subjectindex 257
List of tables and figures
Tables
Table1. Logicalnarrativemodels 123
Table2. Theprotagonist’santitheticalcharacterizationinTheLunatic’s
Tale 177
Table3. Antithetical portraitsofOssip’spartnersinTheLunatic’sTale 178
Table4. bumand successfuldoctorscriptsinTheLunatic’sTale 185
Table5. Supra-andinfra-scriptoppositions inTheLunatic’sTale 191
Table6. Comparativesupra-scriptanalysisofTheNorris Plan 210
Table7. Evolution ofthebookcontrolinfra-script
inTheNorrisPlan 211
Table8. Comparativeanalysis oftwosupra-scriptsinOnGuard 214
Table9. DiagrammaticanalysisofMillie’s suitorsinOnGuard 217
Table10. OpeningandclosingsequencesinYouWerePerfectlyFine 219
Table11. Firstsupra-scriptopposition inYouWerePerfectlyFine 219
Table11. continued 220
Table12. Secondsupra-scriptopposition inYouWerePerfectlyFine 221
Table13. PatternswitchinAShockingAccident 224
Table14. Semanticdiagramofthederisionsupra-scriptinAShocking
Accident 224
Table15. Supra-scriptswitchinHoteldesBoobs 230
Table16. Supra-scriptopposition inHoteldesBoobs 231
Figures
Figure 1. Typesofnarrativeunits 118
Figure 2. Typesofdiscursivesequences 122
Figure 3. Asequential diagramofTheLunatic’sTale 175
Figure 4. HierarchicalscriptrepresentationofTheLunatic’sTale 194