Considering the fact that involvement during commercial breaks is generally rather low, humour may be an appropriate means to catch the recipient’s attention. In order to be able to work with the term “humour”, it needs to be defined. The word itself originates in Latin, meaning “fluid”; it refers to antique medicine which believed that human tempers were made up different mixings of bodily fluids (“humores”).
Since the 18th century the term is used in the way we use it today. Humour, though, is something that goes beyond the “simply funny” things in life.
At the moment, there is no consistent scientific definition of humour. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines humour as a “form of communication in which a complex, mental stimulus illuminates, or amuses, or elicits the reflex of laughter”. It is, though, not just a one-dimensional phenomenon but has rather many facets which have to be differentiated, e. g. comic wit, sentimental humour, satire, sentimental comedy and comedy (Speck 1990).
This rather large amount of terms standing in context with humour already indicates that there cannot be one single definition but rather a whole field concerned with this topic.
Semantically, Attardo (1994) has built up this field in the following way: Looking at this variety of concepts, it should not be too surprising that there is little consensus about the effects of humorous ads. This is based on individual predispositions – one person might find a commercial extremely amusing while another rejects it. However, that depends, among others, on social and psychological factors: How has a person been socialized? 2. There are several theories about the effect of ad humour on the recipient: a. Incongruity Resolution Theory
The Term Paper on AP language rhetorical terms list
... negatives. meiosis reproduction wit Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever ... my writing? ad hominen argument appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect ad populum fallacious argument that concludes a proposition ... writer of stories or accounts. Narrative technique is a general term (like "devices," or "resources of language") that asks you ...
McGhee (1979) defines incongruity as “the relationships between components of an object, event, idea, social expectation and so forth. When the arrangement of the constituent element of an event is incompatible with the normal or expected pattern, the event is perceived as incongruous. ” The theory is presented as “essentialist” because it tries to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for a phenomenon to occur, in order to define the essence of the phenomenon. The approach is based on the assumption that the crucial element in a humorous situation/ad is a kind of incongruity which surprises the recipient.
While she expects some certain features (based on earlier experiences with similar situations), the ad evokes a situation that does not comply with the recipient’s expectations. However, in order to be humorous, the situational context must be safe and non-threatening. When the recipient detects an incongruence, she has to start interpreting the situation. The interpretation consists of several steps. The first step represents an obvious meaning which, however, would not make much sense in this particular context.
Only by providing encyclopaedic knowledge or information given earlier in the ad, she can resolve the situation and thus recognize it as humorous. The incongruity often appears in combination with a pun or a metaphor (see 3 a/b).
Incongruity humour is also called “Ah-ha humour” (Behrens/Gro? erohde 1999) as the enjoyment comes along with intellectual pleasure, having solved a small challenge. b. Superiority/Disparagement Theory Whereas the Incongruity Resolution Theory has a “cognitive” focus on information processing, the Superiority Theory aims more at affective elements of humour.
Humour is often “evil”, using tendentious or humiliating elements to ridicule other people or groups of people. If humour deals with “disliked” people it is considered even more funny than humour dealing with “friendly” people. An example for this is the famous “sport” of Kraut-bashing, practiced by Englishmen before football matches, using references to the World Cup 1966 or WW 1 and 2. These affective reactions do not necessarily have to be the result of long-lasting, negative attitudes towards other people, but can also occur momentarily.
The Term Paper on Nursing Theories
Introduction Theories are a set of interrelated concepts that give a systematic view of a phenomenon (an observable fact or event) that is explanatory & predictive in nature. Theories are composed of concepts, definitions, models, propositions & are based on assumptions. They are derived through two principal methods; deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. Objectives to assess the ...
This explains the occurrence of such humour among friends or against one self (e. g. self irony).
Disparagement humour is also called “Ha-ha humour” (Behrens/Gro? erohde 1999), meaning that someone is just laughing at something with the laughter having a mainly affective background. Origins of this theory go back to Aristotle and Plato, who presented definitions for humour and comedy as something that makes us laugh when the “evil” or “ugly” is ridiculed or suffers. One key concept of humour is amusement, to be separated from enjoyment.
The latter can also occur during sports or other kinds of entertainment, whereas the former is rather strictly entwined with humour. c. Release Theories Release theories maintain that humour releases tensions, psychic energy, or that humour releases one from inhibitions, conventions and laws. They account for the “liberation” of language, using puns and other word-play, thus violating actual language rules and “defunctionalizing” or “refunctionalizing” language. Release theories go back to Freud’s analysis of humorous utterances but have a rather psychological focus. He put up a list of twenty mechanisms with which humour works.
They operate inside both verbal humour (arising from words) and referential humour (arising from facts and actions) and can be reduced to two major mechanisms: •condensation: one signifier contains several meanings and leads us to these meanings (e. g. puns or metaphors; paradigmatic relations) •displacement: relationship between two senses which are present at the same time (syntagmatic relations) d. Excitation Transfer Theory This theory claims that high arousal levels induced by “communicated” excitement during one programme may be transferred to another programme (post-exposure).
For example, if an arousing TV programme is followed by commercials, the arousal level may still be present during the commercial break. This has been empirically confirmed (Mattes/Cantor 1982) and can also be applied the other way round (commercials U TV programme).
In order to take effect, though, both programme and commercial break ought to be mood-congruent. Highly humorous commercials in context with a solemn TV programme might completely lose their intended effect. Perry et al. (1997) examined TV programmes and commercials for context and excitation transfer effects.
The Report on On Application of Pun in Advertisement English from the Perspective of Pragmatics
On Application of Pun in Advertisement English——from the Perspective of Pragmatics Abstract Advertising language is the core and soul of advertisement. Pun, as a special language in advertisement----language trademark, is the key to make successful advertisement. The application of Pun cannot only increase the charm of advertising language, but also creates commercial value and social value. On ...
They found that TV programmes are rated as more positively when the commercials were also rated as humorous. Moreover, they were considered more enjoyable in a more humorous context. Thus, increasing humour levels may improve programme liking and preference. The study itself worked with rather humorous programmes. The effect on solemn programmes is still unexplored. 3. Advertisers use several different linguistic features to incorporate humour: a. puns A pun is a phenomenon which involves the signifier facet of the sign.
In the most common sense, a pun is a spoken joke or a joke meant to be interpreted as if read aloud. They can be put into the following taxonomy: •homonymy ohomophony °between different words °two or more words °a simple word with a composed one °one word with a group of two or more words °two groups of words ohomography oparonymy •polysemy •antonymy •morphemic attraction •tendency to motivation •contamination (Denglisch = Deutsch + Englisch) There are three linguistic features with puns: •paradigmatic puns: they, like all puns, provide two or more meanings.
However, there is only one string present – the uttered one. The other one(s) has/have to be retrieved by the recipients from their storage of homonymic or paronymic strings (paradigm).
Example: His sins were scarlet but his books were read. scarlet = purple, but also “verrufen” read = homonymy to “red” •syntagmatic puns: these puns require the presence of the second string in the text (syntagm).
Moreover, they also refer to the recipient’s encyclopaedic knowledge. Example: You’ve had tee many martoonis. A giant leap for the International Monetary Fund, a small step for mankind. chiastic puns: puns based on a chiasm (xyyx – scheme).
Example: The fair sex: Yes. The sex fair: No. A pun is based on the ambiguity of words. Yet not all ambiguous words are puns. The two senses in a pun are not random but have to be “opposed”, i. e. semantically incompatible in context. This incompatibility is a necessary condition for building up incongruity, which itself may lead to a humorous interpretation. The speaker’s intended interpretation, though, must be recoverable. Furthermore, the conscious recognition of multiple interpretations is essential for an audience to process an utterance as a pun.
The Dissertation on Unit 7: Words and Phrases Used in Advertising
I. Introduction With increasing communication in the world and acceleration of economic globalization, English advertising has found its way into people’s life. Every day, people are exposed to a large number of advertisements no matter whether they like them or not. But what is advertising? What are the objectives of advertising? What are the functions of advertising? And what significance does a ...
In doing so, the advertiser achieves the full range of intended effects. Among advertisers puns are assumed to have a low intellectual status and should not be included. Advertisers are perhaps attempting to dissociate themselves from the intention to use word-play. However, puns are used more and more frequently in ads, especially in anglo-saxon countries or Japan. Sherzer (1985) considers puns as highly appropriate for advertising because they deliver two meanings for the price of one word. Puns attract attention because they frustrate initial expectations of relevance and create a sense of surprise.
