ABSTRACT
The General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) and the Semantic-Script Theory of Humor (SSTH) have been defined as the “two most influential linguistic humor theories of the last two decades” (Brône et al., 2006, p. 203). The GTVH was first presented in 1991, with the publication of Attardo and Raskin (1991). In 1993, Raskin and Attardo joined forces with Willibald Ruch for a study that confirmed empirically some of the predictions of the GTVH (Ruch et al., 1993). Finally, in 2001 Attardo published a monograph that expands the GTVH’s scope to all types of texts. The GTVH is an expansion of Raskin’s (1985) SSTH, but it is also a part of Attardo’s taxonomy of textual relationships. In Attardo’s taxonomy, jokes (or any other type of texts) could entertain relationships with other texts based on resemblance at the textual level, but also in relation to other texts. This finding was later published as part of Attardo (2001). These publications describe the “canonical” texts of the GTVH. Other articles, most notably in collaboration with Christian Hempelmann, as well as his solo work, expanded the GTVH further (see the “New Debates” section of this chapter).
