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Students often struggle to understand linguistic concepts through examples of language data provided in class or in texts. Presented with ambiguous information, students frequently respond that they do not 'get it'. The solution is to find an example of humour that relies on the targeted ambiguity. Once they laugh at the joke, they have tacitly understood the concept, and then it is only a matter of explaining why they found it funny. Utilizing cartoons and jokes illustrating linguistic concepts, this book makes it easy to understand these concepts, while keeping the reader's attention and interest. Organized like a course textbook in linguistics, it covers all the major topics in a typical linguistics survey course, including communication systems, phonetics and phonology, morphemes, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourses, child language acquisition and language variation, while avoiding technical terminology.

Linguistics --- Wit and humor --- Bons mots --- Facetiae --- Humor --- Jests --- Jokes --- Ludicrous, The --- Ridiculous, The --- Wit and humor, Primitive --- Literature --- Joking --- Laughter --- Linguistic science --- Science of language --- Language and languages --- Linguistics. --- Wit and humor. --- Arts and Humanities --- Language & Linguistics

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This book examines the concept of 'nonsense' in ancient Greek thought and uses it to explore the comedies of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. If 'nonsense' (phluaria, lēros) is a type of language felt to be unworthy of interpretation, it can help to define certain aspects of comedy that have proved difficult to grasp. Not least is the recurrent perception that although the comic genre can be meaningful (i.e. contain political opinions, moral sentiments and aesthetic tastes), some of it is just 'foolery' or 'fun'. But what exactly is this 'foolery', this part of comedy which allegedly lies beyond the scope of serious interpretation? The answer is to be found in the concept of 'nonsense': by examining the ways in which comedy does not mean, the genre's relationship to serious meaning (whether it be political, aesthetic, or moral) can be viewed in a clearer light.

Psychological study of literature --- Thematology --- Classical Greek literature --- Drama --- Greek drama (Comedy) --- Greek language --- Greek wit and humor --- Meaning (Psychology) --- Wit and humor --- Languages & Literatures --- Greek & Latin Languages & Literatures --- Bons mots --- Facetiae --- Humor --- Jests --- Jokes --- Ludicrous, The --- Ridiculous, The --- Wit and humor, Primitive --- Literature --- Joking --- Laughter --- Psychology --- Greek literature --- History and criticism --- Semantics --- Social aspects --- E-books --- Wit and humor. --- History and criticism. --- Semantics. --- Social aspects.