Kurt Feyaerts

Assessing the SSTH and GTVH: a view from cognitive linguistics

Abstract Despite its strong cognitive orientation in recent years, humor research still has paid relatively little attention to the paradigm of Cognitive linguistics (CL), which in light of its dynamic view on cognitive and semantic aspects of language in use, seems to provide an adequate framework for the analysis of humor. With regard to the “cognitive construal” of human experience as one of the basic notions of CL, this paper describes for three types of humorous texts in what ways construal operations are exploited, combined, and embedded in humorous discourse, as well as the way in which they relate to the achievement of humorous effects. It is demonstrated, accordingly, that CL contributes to a holistic account of humor as a highly marked and complex, yet structurally not irregular kind of language use. In this respect, this contribution is particularly critical about the category of Logical Mechanisms, defined in the GTVH as humor-specific operations that guide the process of incongruity resolution in humor interpretation. Instead, the present account advocates a prototype model of construal operations, in which incongruity and resolution appear as two perspectives of the same cognitive construal.

Introduction: Cognitive linguistic approaches to humor

Abstract Ever since the publication of Victor Raskins seminal work on the Semantic Mechanisms of Humor (1985), linguistic humor research has had a decidedly cognitive orientation. The cognitive psychological roots of the Semantic Script Theory of Humor (SSTH) presented in the aforementioned book, have been adopted in a large number of studies that have appeared since. In this respect, Attardo, in a recent discussion on the cognitive turn in literary studies, points out “that linguists who study humor may well be pleased to find out that they were doing cognitive stylistics all along” (2002: 231). Indeed, the two most influential linguistic humor theories of the last two decades, the SSTH and the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH, Attardo and Raskin 1991; Attardo 1994, 1997, 2001a), along with a number of other theoretical studies (Giora 1991; Kottho 1998; Yus 2003) share some significant features with the broad linguistic framework that is the methodological angle of the present thematic issue, viz. Cognitive Linguistics (CL).

Creativity and the agile mind : a multi-disciplinary study of a multi-faceted phenomenon

Creativity is a highly-prized quality in any modern endeavor, whether artistic, scientific or professional. Though a much-studied subject, and the topic of a great many case-studies, the field of creativity research is still very much an open one. Creativity remains a field where absolute definitions hold very little water, and where true insight can only emerge when we properly appreciate - from a nuanced, multi-disciplinary perspective - the crucial distinction between the producers perspective and the consumers perspective. Theories that afford us a critical appreciation of a creative work do not similarly afford a explanatory insight into the origins and development of the work. As researchers, we must approach creativity both as producers - to consider the vast search-spaces that a producer encounters, and to appreciate the need for heuristic strategies for negotiating this space - and as consumers, to appreciate the levels of shared knowledge (foreground and background) that is exploited by the producer to achieve a knowingly creative effect in the mind of the consumer. This volume thus brings together both producers and consumers in a cross-disciplinary exploration of this complex, many-faceted phenomenon.

Does framing work? An empirical study of Simplifying Models for sustainable food production

Abstract We investigate empirically whether framing in general, and the use of Simplifying Models as a framing tool in particular, has an effect on the way topics are cognitively construed. Existing studies on framing in linguistics have either been theoretical or descriptive. Going beyond such methodologically simple approaches, we use a more rigid test design involving the use of a control group, the construction of test conditions in which different Simplifying Models constitute the major source of variation, the inclusion of independent variables like age and prior knowledge of the subjects, and the use of linear and logistic regression analysis. Our results show that our more rigid methodological approach yields a more reliable image of the effect of Simplifying Models on the way in which people deal with information on a complex topic like sustainable food production. Fleshing out these effects further may in time lead to a better informed construction of communication on complex social topics.

DSM-5 personality trait domains and withdrawal versus approach motivational tendencies in response to the perception of other people’s desperation and angry aggression

Expressions of affect communicate social messages, which trigger approach and withdrawal/avoidance motivational tendencies in the observer. The present study investigated relationships between inter-individual differences in the motivational responses to other peoples affect expressions and DSM-5 personality trait domains. State-dependent, transient EEG alpha asymmetry responses provided indicators of the relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation in the respective social-emotional contexts. The Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) was used for the assessment of personality traits in a non-clinical sample. Individuals with higher levels of Antagonism showed relative activation of approach versus withdrawal motivation (as indicated by less relative right frontal activation) in response to confrontation with auditory expressions of angry aggression, whereas participants with higher levels of Detachment showed relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation (as indicated by greater relative right frontal activation) to the perception of other peoples desperate crying.

The shrug as marker of obviousness

Abstract This contribution focuses on the shrug as it is used in stance taking contexts in face-to-face conversations. The shrug qualifies as a ‘compound enactment’, in which prototypically different gestures are combined: “the eye-brows (which are being raised), the hands (which are turned so that the palms face up), the forearms (which may be lifted), and the shoulders (which are also raised). In addition, the head may be tilted” (Streeck 2009: 189. Gesturecraft. The manu-facture of meaning. Amsterdam: Benjamins). More recent studies show that instead of a head tilt, a headshake can also be a part of the shrug (Schoonjans 2014. Modalpartikeln als multimodale Konstruktionen: Eine korpusbasierte Kookkurrenzanalyse von Modalpartikeln und Gestik im Deutschen. Leuven: KU Leuven dissertation). We report on an empirical study, in which the shrug or some of its gestural components are used to express obviousness on the part of the speaker. Although our data reveal multimodal patterns in the expression of obviousness, this study singles out the gestural dimension. The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 explains the methodological aspects of our study, after which Section 3 presents the formal and quantitative results, illustrated with four examples. The paper ends in Section 4 with a brief discussion of our major findings.

Alignment and empathy as viewpoint phenomena: The case of amplifiers and comical hypotheticals

Abstract This contribution focuses on verbal amplifiers and comical hypotheticals in a corpus of face-to-face interactions. Both phenomena qualify as markers of a mental viewpoint expressing an (inter)subjective construal of a certain experience. Whereas amplifiers offer a straightforward view onto a speaker’s evaluative stance, comical hypotheticals provide an intersubjective account of a viewpoint construal. As part of their meaning, their use reveals a speaker’s assumption about the interlocutor willing to allow or participate in a particular type of interactional humor. Our research interest for these phenomena concerns their occurrence as well as their interactional alignment in terms of mimicry behavior. In order to capture the impact of both linguistic and psychological variables in the use of these items, we adopt a differentiated methodological approach, which allows to correlate findings from our corpus linguistic analysis with the values obtained for interpersonal difference variables. As our data consists of male dyads of which the participants never met before the beginning of their conversation, we expected to witness an increase, along with the growing familiarity among the interlocutors, in both the use and alignment of these viewpoint phenomena. Indeed, results show a clear increase in the use of both verbal amplifiers and comical hypotheticals over the course of the interaction and independently from the also observed overall increase of communicativeness. However, with respect to the alignment of both viewpoint phenomena, our study reveals a differentiated result. Participants aligned their use of verbal amplifiers with that of their partners over the course of the interaction, but they did not do so for comical hypotheticals. Yet, within the broader discussion of the experiment’s design, this unexpected result may still seem plausible with respect to our general hypothesis. Beyond the limits of this study, the set-up and results of our study nicely connect to recent research on empathy-related behavior in social neuroscience.