ABSTRACT

Chapter 1 begins by introducing key concepts in research on linguistic creativity and continues with a discussion of humour and language. A third section of Chapter 1 explains the Bakhtinian concept of voicing, which is the central analytic focus throughout the book. These concepts are illustrated with two examples: The first is an advertisement for a wedding dress posted on eBay, written from the perspective of the dress rather than its human owner, and the second is a playful Twitter exchange between a celebrity and a fan, in which humour that relies on metaphoric uses of language is co-constructed by both participants. Chapter 1 concludes with a summary of the book’s remaining chapters.