The cognitive linguistics of incongruity resolution: Marked reference-point structures in humor

Previous research in cognitive semantics has focused on various mechanisms of ‘dynamic’ meaning construction, like metaphor, metonymy, conceptual integration, irony and sarcasm. The present paper aims at broadening the scope of analysis to include the largely underfranchised topic of humor (in the broadest sense) in the cognitive paradigm. In a first section of the paper, it is argued that Croft & Cruse’s (in press) typology of construal operations provides a useful key for fitting in the cognitive linguistic contribution into existing linguistic humor-theoretical frameworks (as e.g. Attardo’s GTVH). In a second part of the paper, one specific construal operation, metonymy, is explored with respect to its functionality in the cognitive resolution process of humor interpretation. On the basis of a heterogeneous corpus, a range of marked reference-point constructions is abstracted and related to a higher-level strategy of balanced processing difficulty and optimal innovation (Giora 2002). The paper closes off with an overview of experimental-psychological studies relating to the present account and some questions that need further empirical backup.