Ambiguity and Humour
Abstract
Ambiguity has many positive effects on the three main elements of speech acts: speakers, message and code. In this paper, we will analyse one of the positive aspects related to semantic ambiguity: humour, which is often based on the ambivalence of certain units of speech. We will also establish three basic types of semantic opacity: ambiguity, fuzziness and generality. Our pragmatic approach will show how several mechanisms account for the way each one of these categories creates humour.Downloads
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