Comprehension of Jokes

Graeme Ritchie began his academic career in artificial intelligence in the 1970s, and for the past twenty-five years has increasingly concentrated on research into humour.

• Preface1 The programme of work 2 Towards a theory of jokes 3 The process of joke comprehension4 Text comprehension5 Processing and prediction6 Logic in jokes7 Incongruity and resolution8 Surprise9 The role of language10 Impropriety11 Superiority and aggression12 What’s in a joke?13 Applying the framework14 The way forward

"Graeme Ritchie is one of the most rigorous thinkers I know and his newest book is a clear testimony to this fact. He is very careful not to make untenable general claims, and thus the claims he does make are guaranteed to withstand criticism. The study is grounded in his previous publications, but goes much beyond them; it synthetically addresses the central questions of humour research, although it narrowly focuses on jokes only – and it is lucidly written. A thoroughly recommended and pleasurable read that leaves you with a taste for more."Władysław Chłopicki, Jagiellonian University, Poland, President of the International Society for Humour Studies."In The Comprehension of Jokes, Graeme Ritchie sets out to integrate multiple facets of the subjective experience of a joke’s audience with multiple facets of the contents of the joke narrative, drawing on diverse sources, including linguistics, logic, and psychology. He has consequently generated an extensive set of prominent constructs for the analysis, and in the longer term, theory development of jokes, and eventually humor. His book constitutes a laudable move toward a more complete account of jokes and humor. "Larry Ventis, Psychology Professor Emeritus, College of William and Mary, Past President, International Society for Humor Studies.