Article
Contextual Connections to Puns in Tom Swifties
The Journal of General Psychology
(2010)
Abstract
Previous research conducted with short fables was replicated in this study with Swifties in which sentence length and presence of a pun were controlled. Of the 24 one-sentence word plays shown to each participant, half had an enhanced contextual connection that was predicted to increase appropriateness and detection of the incongruity, resulting in heightened perceived cleverness and humor. Results supported predictions, showing especially strong enhancement of perceived cleverness. The authors suggest that this outcome could be generalized to other forms of word play.
Keywords
- Humor,
- Pun,
- Wit,
- Word play
Disciplines
Publication Date
March, 2010
DOI
10.1080/00221300209603139
Publisher Statement
Taylor & Francis Group
Citation Information
Louis Lippman, Kristine Bennington and Ivan Laars Sucharski. "Contextual Connections to Puns in Tom Swifties" The Journal of General Psychology Vol. 129 Iss. 2 (2010) p. 202 - 208 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/louis-lippman/19/