ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the universal language correlates of a semantic-pragmatic pattern that is here assumed as a humor universal that is the Script Opposition. It finds the same idea in the first analyses of verbal humor in non-Indo-European languages. After a discussion on the main research issues in human sciences, the chapter proposes three dimensions for the study of humor universals, and considers some possible research paths. The specific features of humor in different social and ethnic groups are the core issue of ethnic humor studies that highlight the most salient elements, norms, values, and systems of relationships of a culture and its worldview. As a consequence, a first question is related to what can be considered as universal in humor. Therefore, in the search for, and empirical verification of, humor universals it seems important to focus on basic, shared cognitive patterns and elements, as is suggested by the six Knowledge Resources of the General Theory of Verbal Humor.
