In line with the multidisciplinary nature of pragmatics, the book embraces pragmatic humour studies as a bourgeoning area of scholarly investigation. Seventeen studies on humour research in different discourse domains are presented in the volume. Part 1, “Stylistic figures as forms of humour,” begins with a study on irony. “Will anticipating irony facilitate it immediately?” addresses humorous and nonhumorous types of irony through the theory of salient meanings, reporting on eight experiments. The answer to the question in the title of the paper refutes the hypothesis that rich contextual information immediately promotes ironic interpretations. It is shown that salience-based interpretations that rely on lexicalized and cognitively prominent meanings are easier and much faster to process. The second study elucidates patterns in the production and reception of irony and attempts an overarching model. The author compiles a typology of irony including conferred, situational, and dramatic irony together with their characteristic features in a wide range of pertinent examples. The third study, on “Irony via surrealism,” addresses the absurd strategy of production and retrieval of the ironic effect “in which the speaker employs a strikingly unrealistic, unexpected, and inappropriate” utterance.

The second section on rhetorical devices, “Puns and other wordplay,” collates three studies. The first proposes a five-tier matrix for categorizing puns while emphasizing the role of syllables and morphemes in the creation of ambiguity and humour. The second gives a sociopragmatic account of puns practiced by clowns and pages in Shakespeare's comedies. It is argued that by virtue of their social roles, clowns and pages differ markedly on the pragmatic level; the latter shows wit while the former demonstrates primitiveness. The third study in the section measures the incongruity causing humour that results from the mismatch between registers such as the shift in tone and style in a text.

Part 2 of the volume expands on the forms of humor. A subsection on jokes consists of three contributions dealing with recurrent joke topics. One study considers gender representation in Russian jokes on the internet, the second explores the notion of ethnic humour in Romanian jokes, and the third studies sexuality and its subtypes in humorously distorted proverbs in English, indicating sociopragmatic tendencies that are culturally based. Chapters in the section on conversational humour consider dyadic e-mail exchanges, showing how conversationalists alternate intentionally between humorous and nonhumorous frames, humour in live-text commentary in online sports journalism and the use of retorts, teasing, and banter as interactive mechanisms occurring in reaction to previous speakers, and the role of humor in building solidarity and facilitating integration of new staff in the workplace. This chapter considers the role of humour in defining boundaries with respect to new responsibilities and tasks, and how superiors resort to humor to seek balance between solidarity and power, while subordinates use humour subversively to challenge their superiors.

Part 3 of the volume elaborates on “Forms of humour in public discourse.” The first study examines parody in political sketches in terms of the incongruity-resolution model, where the comic sketches operate on distortions of various verbal and nonverbal incongruity manifestations. The second paper studies participation-based sitcom humour. It builds on the postulate that sitcom humour is meant to be appreciated by the recipients based on participation phenomena. It is argued that participation operates on two communicative levels—those of characters and viewers—thus conceptualizing the viewer as a privileged hearer of participation between characters. The third study investigates literary humour in short stories, using the notion of script opposition and the incongruity resolution approach. It explains the thematic variation of comic failure and considers three rhetorical devices promoting humour: simile, understatement, and irony. The fourth study elaborates on the interdependence between humour and persuasion in advertising and in court discourse. Finally, the last chapter compiles some difficulties in the translation of humorous texts due to linguistic and cultural barriers as well as the diversity in “sense of humour.” Nevertheless, it is argued, the act of translation itself is a means of humour.

Overall, the volume brings together a wide range of studies on humour in different discourse domains, testifying to the diversified picture and interdisciplinary nature of pragmatic humour research.