Scalar Implicature Humor: A Pragmatic-Cognitive Approach

Although a great deal of work has been done on humor in psychology, literature and sociology, less has been done in linguistics, especially in cognitive linguistics. Models of humor abound, but integrative models do not.The present dissertation is confined to the study of a special type of humor, scalar implicature (SI for short) humor, from the pragmatic-cognitive perspective. This type of humor mainly resides in the manipulation of a conceptual scale by describing an entity (such as a person, object, or situation) typically in the first clause or part as having a great deal of some property, thus creating an expectation in the hearer's mind. This is then followed by a second clause or part that provides a punchline, whose characteristics and relation to the first clause or part are incongruous to the hearer's initial expectation. The resulting mismatch between the hearer's expectations about the utterance and its actual realization, as well as the imagery evoked, is the very thing that makes the utterance funny.Based on the previous studies on humor, we propose an integrative model to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the production and interpretation of SI humor, by synthesizing mental space theory (Fauconnier, 1994), conceptual blending theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 1998, 2002), construction grammar (Goldberg, 1995; Langacker, 1987), frame-shifting model (Coulson, 2000), and relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995), with the focus on its capacity to explain the sorts of inferences needed to understand SI humor, or verbal humor in general. In this model, frame-shifting serves as a cognitive resolution mechanism in understanding humor, embodiment as a cognitive resolution basis, cognitive construal as an incongruity unpacking device, while relevance serves as a pragmatic inference mechanism to guarantee the proper direction of frame-shifting.The present dissertation is composed of ten chapters, including the general introduction at the outset and the conclusion at the end. Chapters 2 and 3 offer a literature review of SI studies and humor research; Chapter 4 attempts to construct a theoretical framework for the study of SI humor; Chapter 5 gives a linguistic description of SI humor; Chapters 6 to 9 are devoted to the exploration of SI humor from the perspectives of frame-shifting, embodiment, cognitive construal, and relevance.With various pioneering efforts in view, the present study is, on one hand, to piece together their findings concerning humor as well as SIs and incorporate them into a fuller and richer picture in the attempt to clear off some misunderstandings related to humor. On the other hand, we try to dig into the depth of SI humor from a broader perspective in the light of cognitive linguistics and pragmatics. Hopefully, the current study will provide a good initial orientation in the cognitive linguistic approach to humor, and have some theoretic and practical values for the humor research.