Linguistic Theories of Humor, 2nd Edition

9 The Cooperative Nature of Humor

This chapter discusses jokes and humor in the light of Grice’s Cooperative Principle (CP). The chapter begins by establishing that jokes present a violation of one of the four maxims composing the CP. The nature of the violation of the CP is addressed, and it is shown that the violation of the CP is real, and not “mentioned” or otherwise metalinguistically salvaged. Having established that jokes are non-cooperative in Grice’s sense, their observed communicative effect must be explained, and this is accomplished by postulating a hierarchy of CPs, each of which incorporates the inferential powers of the CPs it overlays. A CP for humor is established in this context. Finally, the chapter considers the importance ...