An Analysis of Humor in English Anti-proverbs: A Script-based Semantic Approach

Abstract

: In paremiology, anti-proverbs are formed by transforming and twisting traditional proverbs to create humorous effects. The main purpose of creating anti-proverbs is to produce humor; therefore, the major of this study is to analyze humor in anti-proverbs. The study applied the hypothesis of the Script-based Semantic Theory of Humor to explain the reasons for describing anti-proverbs as funny texts; moreover, it discussed the proverb variations that are used to transform traditional proverbs into anti-proverbs. The results of the study showed that the script opposition between the first script, which is the traditional proverb meaning, and the second script, which is the anti-proverb's meaning, is the main cause of describing anti-proverbs as funny texts. The most used kind of script opposition is expected/unexpected opposition. It also showed that there are nine types of proverb variations used to form anti-proverbs. The most used type of these proverb variations is adding a tail to the original proverb; meanwhile, the least used types are substituting two or more words and adding two or more words to the traditional proverb.