Why are you amused: Unveiling multimodal humor from the prototype theoretical perspective

• Authors: Qiaoyun Chen , Guiying Jiang
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper looks at multimodal humour through the lens of prototype theory in the framework of conventional incongruity theory of humour, aiming for a unified linguistic and semiotic approach to humour. From this perspective, humour can be achieved through the following three aspects of linguistic and non-linguistic categories: 1) prototypicality versus non-prototypicality of category members; 2) the family resemblance shared by category members; 3) vague inter-categorical boundary. The cognitive mechanisms behind this type of multimodal humour and its comprehension are discussed. The intermodal relationships involved are examined and categorised into two major types: complementary and non-complementary ones.

Keywords

EN

multimodal humor; incongruity theory of humor; prototype theory; cognitive linguistics

• Publisher: Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies
• Journal: The European Journal of Humour Research
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2018

online

2018-06-13

Contributors

author

Qiaoyun Chen

author

Guiying Jiang

Identifiers

DOI

10.7592/EJHR2018.6.1.chen