Abstract
Ambiguity of different types contributes significantly to humor creation, as predicted by incongruity theory This holds for homonymy, polysemy, structural and scope ambiguity, as well as any multiplicity of meanings that arises due to pragmatic factors. A consideration of languages with rich inflectional morphology, such as Russian, further reveals that linguistic humor may be based on the semantic indeterminacy of certain grammatical phenomena. The present paper provides evidence in favor of this claim by taking the imperfective aspect, genitive case-assignment and instrumental case-assignment into account. It is demonstrated that the ambiguity / indeterminacy associated with these phenomena gives rise to the creation of humorous effects. We further generalize that the core functions of case and aspect correlate with the less salient readings of ambiguous sentences (often the absurd, non-bona-fide ones). In contrast, the more peripheral and even idiomatic functions give rise to the salient, bona-fide readings. A functional explanation is put forward for this apparent discrepancy: the prototypical, easily accessible functions of case and aspect make it easier for the hearer to process a sentence in its non-salient interpretation.
Аннотация
Различные виды двусмысленности существенно способствуют созданию юмористического эффекта, что следует из теории несоответствия. Это справедливо для омонимии, полисемии, структурной двусмысленности и неоднозначности сферы действия, а также для многозначности, являющейся результатом прагматических факторов. Исследование языков с богатой флективной морфологией, таких как русский, также демонстрирует, что вербальный юмор может основываться на семантической неопределённости отдельных грамматических явлений. В данной статье рассматривается неопределeнность / двусмысленность несовершенного вида, а также родительного и творительного падежей. Показано, что данная двусмысленность способствует созданию юмористического эффекта. Более того, центральные функции падежа и вида соотносятся с менее вероятным, зачастую абсурдным, прочтением двусмысленных предложений. И наоборот, второстепенные и даже идиоматические функции соответствуют более вероятному, очевидному прочтению. Этому кажущемуся несоответствию предлагается функциональное объяснение: типовые функции падежа и вида помогают адресату интерпретировать предложение в соответствии с его менее вероятным прочтением.
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Notes
Most of the humorous texts illustrated in the article are famous jokes that can be found on the Internet in slightly different versions.
The ambiguity in (6) could also be analyzed via the generic / existential contrast.
This could potentially constitute evidence in favor of an analysis according to which the imperfective is not ambiguous between habitual and Statement of Fact readings (as well as the iterative one). Rather, these sub-meanings should be provided a unified account. In contrast, the progressive may require a different treatment.
This configuration, when an event is not entailed even to begin, is found mainly with achievement verbs, which denote (near-)instantaneous events of change, such as arrive, notice, reach, etc. (cf. Vendler 1957). For those of these verbs that are compatible with the progressive, the resulting sentence asserts that a certain preparatory stage, rather than the event itself, took place. Note that win is an achievement verb, and lift can be viewed as such under the sub-meaning of raising up from the ground.
The most prototypical usage is, of course, one whereby the DP fulfills the role of an instrument or tool (cf. e.g. Wierzbicka 1980, p. 4; Blake 2001, p. 154; Narrog 2011 and references therein), as illustrated in (i):
- (i)
Vor
otkryl
dver’
ključom.
thief
opened
door
key.ins
‘The thief opened the door with a key.’
Additional uses include: demoted agents in passive clauses; nominal predicates (including predicates of small clauses); (second) complements of certain verbs (e.g. torgovat’knigami ‘sell books’, kormit’ Mašusupom ‘feed Masha with the soup’, zabit’ škafodeždoj ‘fill the wardrobe with clothes’). Also, instrumental adjuncts of different types can be found in Russian, including spatial adjuncts (plyt’morem ‘swim by the sea’), temporal adjuncts (spat’utrom ‘sleep in the morning’), manner adjuncts (plakat’gor’kimi slezami ‘cry bitter tears’, based on Wierzbicka 1980, p. 150), means of transportation (pribyt’poezdom ‘arrive by train’), etc. The formation of such adjuncts is not fully productive and the resulting phrases are not always purely compositional; in other words, a varying degree of idiosyncrasy is observed. In the radical case we find instrumental adjuncts which constitute idiomatic or half-idiomatic expressions, such as grešnyminsdelomins (sinful deed) ‘to tell the truth’ and ukradkoj ‘secretly’.
- (i)
Unlike the other temporal examples mentioned in this paragraph, nedeljami (weeks.ins) contributes information regarding the duration of an event, rather than locating it in time.
In Russian, a comitative meaning would require a combination of the preposition s ‘with’ with an instrumental DP.)
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Kagan, O. Humor creation and the ambiguity of morpho-syntactic phenomena. Russ Linguist 44, 59–78 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-020-09220-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-020-09220-3