Verbal humor

Abstract

This chapter deals with puns. The classification of puns is discussed and a basic definition of pun is provided: a text in which a sequence of sounds must be interpreted with a formal reference to a second sequence of sounds and two incongruous meanings are triggered by this process. Puns may come from ambiguity, or paronymy (puns that are similar in sound). The phonetic distance is the measure of how far two paronyms may differ and still be considered puns. The position of the connector (the ambiguous or paronymic element) and the disjunctor (the element in the text that triggers the recognition of the pun) are discussed. A Cratylistic motivated folk-theory of language is shown to underlie puns in the minds of speakers. Finally, a discussion of the psycholinguistics of puns completes the chapter.