Understanding Language through Humor

by Stanley Dubinsky , Chris Holcomb

• ISBN13: 9780521886277
• ISBN10: 0521886279
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781139118538
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Students often struggle to understand linguistic concepts through examples of language data provided in class or in texts. Presented with ambiguous information, students frequently respond that they do not 'get it'. The solution is to find an example of humour that relies on the targeted ambiguity. Once they laugh at the joke, they have tacitly understood the concept, and then it is only a matter of explaining why they found it funny. Utilizing cartoons and jokes illustrating linguistic concepts, this book makes it easy to understand these concepts, while keeping the reader's attention and interest. Organized like a course textbook in linguistics, it covers all the major topics in a typical linguistics survey course, including communication systems, phonetics and phonology, morphemes, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourses, child language acquisition and language variation, while avoiding technical terminology.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Talking to Garfield: human and animal communication

Did I hear that right? The sounds of language

Twisted words: word structure and meaning

Fitting words together: phrase structure and meaning

Meaning one thing and saying another: indirect speech and conversational principles

Fitting the pieces together: the structure of discourse

'Kids say the darndest things': children acquiring language

Variety is the spice of life: language variation

Cross-cultural gaffes: language and culture

The language police: prescriptivism and standardization

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.