Oxymora: Incongruous Companions

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015

The study of paradox and oxymoron has been a matter of central concern within traditional rhetoric and literature, where the two phenomena are simply regarded as tropes or figures of speech. In this paper we shall approach paradox and oxymoron from a cognitive-pragmatic perspective in order to analyse how they are produced and understood. In fact, there is a scarcity of serious studies on how these two tropes work from this stance. In order to fill this gap, following Herrero (2009), we shall focus on the cognitive operations that characterise them and on their specific contextual effects. Moreover, we shall see how paradox and oxymoron can also co-occur with other conceptual analytical phenomena such as metonymy and metaphor (e.g. He is a stupid brain, to be dead living).

CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE, 2022

This article focuses on the similarities and differences between occlusionism and oxymarone. The poetic speech speaks about their realization and usefulness. Necessary conclusions are drawn on the example of examples of creative work.

Language and Psychoanalysis, 2021

Wittgenstein’s account of how language bewitches one’s intelligence is a singular achievement in the phenomenology of language. In section 426 of Philosophical Investigations Wittgenstein famously claims that the meaning of a word is to be found in the “actual use” of it, and he contrasts this understanding with the projection of a picture: A picture is conjured up which seems to fix the sense unambiguously. The actual use, compared with that suggested by the picture, seems like something muddied. ... [T]he form of expression we use seems to have been designed for a god, who knows what we cannot know; he sees the whole of each of those infinite series and he sees into human consciousness. (Wittgenstein, 1953, section 426)

Topics in humor research, 2013

According to the cognitive approach to humour, the understanding of jokes implies the recognition of an incongruity followed by its resolution. Through our work, we aim to contribute to this strand of research by investigating the link between cognitive processes and the understanding of humour. In particular, we will explore the distinction between the three different types of contrariety (global, intermediate and additive) that has emerged from the research on the psychology of perception and is characterised by different perceptual evidence, and how it applies to the concept of incongruity. We will also discuss what a reading of humorous incongruity in terms of perceptual patterns may add to previous definitions of incongruity and how it helps to contribute to the further operationalisation thereof.

International studies in philosophy, 2009

RS Global Sp. z O.O., Poland, 2020

The presented article aims to study the problem of contradictory concepts, ideas by discussing oxymoron and antithesis, to give an outline of these very important and frequently used stylistic devices, their peculiarities and classification; also, to identify those new classes which were revealed after meticulously studying the material under investigation. Exactly these classes are the novelty that is suggested in the given article. Besides, the article studies contradictory themes developed in the text what we call a textual paradox.

International Journal of Linguistics

Nowadays, people use euphemism just to avoid naming abstract things and objects directly, since they do not like just to empress other people. By attempting to avoid hurting the emotion of others, there is an attempt to reduce the depressing effects of the words by using another substitution this indicates that at whatever time people approach a responsive topic; they try to use such expression to reduce the harsh influence on listeners. However, the major aim of this research is to analyze the uses of euphemisms in Shakespearian tragedies such as Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra. The research consists of two parts. The theoretical part which provides an introduction about the meaning of euphemism, types, origin, etymology and its functions, while various examples from Shakespeare's tragedies will be discussed in the practical part. It ends with a conclusion which sums up the main findings of the research.

In: Dynel, Marta (ed.), Developments in Linguistic Humour Theory. 2013. xiv, 425 pp. (pp. 3–24)

According to the cognitive approach to humour, the understanding of jokes implies the recognition of an incongruity followed by its resolution. Through our work, we aim to contribute to this strand of research by investigating the link between cognitive processes and the understanding of humour. In particular, we will explore the distinction between the three different types of contrariety (global, intermediate and additive) that has emerged from the research on the psychology of perception and is characterised by different perceptual evidence, and how it applies to the concept of incongruity. We will also discuss what a reading of humorous incongruity in terms of perceptual patterns may add to previous definitions of incongruity and how it helps to contribute to the further operationalisation thereof.

Humour and incongruity appear to be constant bedfellows, for at the heart of every joke one can point to some degree of absurdity, illogicality or violation of expectation. This observation has lead many theories of humour to base themselves around some notion of incongruity or opposition, most notably the semantic-script theory (or SSTH) of Raskin and the subsequent general theory (or GTVH) of Attardo and Raskin. But correlation does not imply causality (a reality used to good effect in many successful examples of humour), and one should question whether incongruity serves a causal role in the workings and appreciation of humour or merely an epiphenomenal one.