20.1525, Books: Discourse Analysis/Pragmatics/Phonetics: Chafe

Wed Apr 22 02:47:27 UTC 2009

LINGUIST List: Vol-20-1525. Tue Apr 21 2009. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 20.1525, Books: Discourse Analysis/Pragmatics/Phonetics: Chafe

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1)
Date: 20-Apr-2009
From: Paul Peranteau < paul at benjamins.com >
Subject: The Importance of Not Being Earnest: Chafe

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:45:24
From: Paul Peranteau [paul at benjamins.com]
Subject: The Importance of Not Being Earnest: Chafe

E-mail this message to a friend:
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Title: The Importance of Not Being Earnest 
Subtitle: The feeling behind laughter and humor 
Series Title: Consciousness & Emotion Book Series 3  

Publication Year: 2009 
Publisher: John Benjamins
	   http://www.benjamins.com/

Book URL: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=C%26EB%203 

Author: Wallace Chafe

Paperback: ISBN:  9789027241542 Pages: 167 Price: Europe EURO 25.00
Paperback: ISBN:  9789027241542 Pages: 167 Price: U.S. $ 37.95

Abstract:

Now available in paperback!

The thesis of this book is that neither laughter nor humor can be
understood apart from the feeling that underlies them. This feeling is a
mental state in which people exclude some situation from their knowledge of
how the world really is, thereby inhibiting seriousness where seriousness
would be counterproductive. Laughter is viewed as an expression of this
feeling, and humor as a set of devices designed to trigger it because it is
so pleasant and distracting. Beginning with phonetic analyses of laughter,
the book examines ways in which the feeling behind the laughter is elicited
by both humorous and nonhumorous situations. It discusses properties of
this feeling that justify its inclusion in the repertoire of human
emotions. Against this background it illustrates the creation of humor in
several folklore genres and across several cultures. Finally, it reconciles
this understanding with various already familiar ways of explaining humor
and laughter. 

Table of contents

Preface xi-xii  
Symbols Used in Transcribing Laughter xiii  
Introduction 1-13  

Part One: How we laugh 

The essential ingredients of laughter 17-23  
Varieties of laughter 25-40  
Laughing while speaking 41-49  
Beyond the vocal tract 51-58  

Part Two: Why we laugh 

The feeling of nonseriousness 61-71  
Nonseriousness without humor 73-87  
Unplanned humor 89-97  
Planned humor in oral traditions 99-116  
Planned humor in writing 117-125  
Humor in other cultures 127-134  

Part Three: Pulling things together 

Recapitulation 137-138  
Reconciliation with other studies 139-155  
Coda 157-158  
References 159-164  
Index  165-167  

"I love this book. It will open a new branch of research (and a much needed
one). The field owes Chafe a great debt." 
 -Salvatore Attardo, Editor Humor: International Journal of Humor Research

"Though brief and specialized, this book offers considerable information,
and the presentation is conversational and accessible." 
 -P.L. Derks, emeritus, College of William and Mary, in Choice, Vol. 45 No.
3 (2007) 

"This is a very important, ground-breaking book on humor from a linguistic
perspective. It differs from other research on humor by linguists in two
main ways: first, in the attention it pays to the precise description of
laughter, and second in its attempt to set out a complete theory of
laughter and humor, including their place in human evolution and
consciousness, rather than simply to account for humorous texts."
 -Neal Norrick, in Language

"This thought-provoking book leaves me convinced of the importance of the
emotional component of humor and the courage of a rare scholar. An
important re-appraisal of the field as a whole, a book which is a pleasure
to read, written with bright clarity of thought and many gems of
insight.This book is not just - or even principally - about the linguistics
of humor, but about how linguistic (and other) devices relate to the
experience of non-seriousness."
 -Jessica Millner Davis, in Humor, International Journal of Humor Research 

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Phonetics
                     Pragmatics

Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=40963

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Brill          
		http://www.brill.nl	

	Cambridge Scholars Publishing          
		http://www.c-s-p.org	

	Cambridge University Press          
		http://us.cambridge.org	

	Cascadilla Press          
		http://www.cascadilla.com/	

	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd          
		http://www.continuumbooks.com	

	Edinburgh University Press          
		http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/	

	Elsevier Ltd          
		http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics	

	Emerald Group Publishing Limited          
		http://www.emeraldinsight.com/	

	Equinox Publishing Ltd          
		http://www.equinoxpub.com/	

	European Language Resources Association - ELRA          
		http://www.elra.info.	

	Georgetown University Press          
		http://www.press.georgetown.edu	

	Hodder Education          
		http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk	

	John Benjamins          
		http://www.benjamins.com/	

	Lincom GmbH          
		http://www.lincom.eu	

	MIT Press          
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/	

	Mouton de Gruyter          
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com	

	Multilingual Matters          
		http://www.multilingual-matters.com/	

	Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG          
		http://www.narr.de/	

	Oxford University Press          
		http://www.oup.com/us	

	Peter Lang AG          
		http://www.peterlang.com	

	Rodopi          
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)          
		http://www.routledge.com/	

	Springer          
		http://www.springer.com	

	Wiley-Blackwell          
		www.wiley.com	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

	Association of Editors of the Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
		http://www.fl.ul.pt/revistas/JPL/JPLweb.htm 

	Graduate Linguistic Students' Association, Umass
		http://glsa.hypermart.net/ 

	International Pragmatics Assoc.
		http://www.ipra.be 

	Langues et Linguistique
		http://y.ennaji.free.fr/fr/ 

	Linguistic Association of Finland
		http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/ 

	Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
		http://www.lotpublications.nl/ 

	Pacific Linguistics
		http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ 

	SIL International
		http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp 

	St. Jerome Publishing Ltd
		http://www.stjerome.co.uk 

	Utrecht institute of Linguistics
		http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/ 

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