الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 151 |  |  |
| | | from | 151 | | |
Abstract
Language is a production of life through words. It is governed by socially shared regulations and particular behavior gained in early childhood via socialization. It is of interest to how such rules and social behavior operate and interact in language. Literature is also a linguistic shape of art. Both language and literature participate in passing on culture, heritage and history from one generation to another. A dramatic text is solely transferred through the verbal code. However, messages are intended to be communicated in theatrical performances by virtue of linguistic and non-linguistic codes. This study attempts to prove that a work of art extracts its power from the interaction and interplay of words and other dimensions which fall inside and outside the domain of language by exploring the linguistic humorous elements of three selected plays written by Shakespeare. There are diverse semantic and pragmatic types of verbal humor. And there have always been various pragmatic approaches to humor. The purpose of this study is to conduct a formal semantic analysis in terms of identifying certain elements in the text that possess certain semantic properties which make a text humorous. The prime hypothesis is that these humorous element are the outcome of a partial overlap of two or more different and in a sense opposite scripts. Considerable theories of humor have been presented over the years. Attardo and Raskin (1991) presented the General Theory of Verbal Humor the (GTVH). The theory introduces six knowledge resources that are utilized in generating a joke. The study also attempts to examine and apply the overall validity of the (GTVH) to the plays in question. The study concludes that the (GTVH) can only be applied to humorous text types.