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Linguistic Ambiguity In Language-Based Jokes, Sarah Seewoester
Linguistic Ambiguity In Language-Based Jokes, Sarah Seewoester
College of Communication Master of Arts Theses
The purpose of this study was to (1) identify patterns in joke type, word class, word class progressions, use of morphologic/syllabic mechanisms, and compound word manipulations in the “serious” and “humorous” interpretations of puns, (2) compare results with two previous studies (Attardo et al. 1994b and Bucaria 2004) and delineate discrepancies, and (3) to explore how language pattern(s) in English puns contribute to our theoretical understanding of linguistic interpretation.
From a collection of 6,000 puns published online, 225 were randomly chosen and analyzed for alliterative, phonological, lexical, and syntactic categorizations, as well as for patterns in word class, word class …