The interpretative non-prototypicality of puns as a factor in the emergence of humor and in phatic communication

Abstract Adopting the bounds of Sperber and Wilson’s relevance-theoretic framework, this paper examines the emergence of humor in puns and the way puns are used in phatic communication. It argues that there is a so far unrecognized factor, which underlies their perceived humorousness, and which allows them to function as rapport builders. This factor, dubbed interpretative non-prototypicality, directly follows from the relevance-theoretic stand on utterance comprehension, and refers to the way the interpretation process plays out in puns, yielding utterances that go against what we have come to expect based on the default interpretative mode observed in the meaning derivation of non-punning utterances. The objective of the article is to argue, based on examples from English and Chinese, that it is the departure from the interpretative benchmark that can translate into the perceived humorousness of puns, whether linked to incongruity, the element of surprise or the manipulation of strategies used to inferentially work out utterance meanings. This departure, manifested in the low informative content characterizing puns used in such social practices as ping-pong punning, can also make them ideally suited for phatic communication.