Mechanical inelasticity in discourse

Abstract This chapter explores the stylistics of humour with a particular focus on dialogue in television situation comedies. Having acknowledged previous stylistic work on verbal humour where the focus has been on structural elements in discourse, the present chapter moves on to balance research in linguistic pragmatics with philosophical investigations into humour. Use is made of French philosopher Henri Bergson’s theory of “the comic” and especially of Bergson’s characterisation of humour as a kind of rigidity within a mechanical arrangement. The analytic part of the chapter applies this blended pragmatic-philosophical stylistic model to passages of dialogue in popular sitcoms, respectively, Father Ted and Big Bang Theory . It is argued that the humour impulse in both sitcoms is often engendered by dialogue which can be understood as the linguistic embodiment of Bergsonian “mechanical inelasticity” in both discourse routines and discourse strategies. Adding to the toolkit of discourse stylistics, the chapter offers a new framework of analysis for the understanding of comic dialogue in, and beyond, television sitcoms.