A cognitive model for bilingual puns

Abstract

Puns form a highly creative type of wordplay which can be encountered in both oral and written discourse, e.g. in literary works and the press, but also in everyday language. Although they are traditionally less esteemed in Germany than in France, Britain and the US, Görlach (2003: 30) observes a growing inclination to use them in a German context if they have a bilingual shape, i.e. amalgamate German and English material. This notwithstanding, the number of studies devoted to this phenomenon is rather limited so far. Building on press examples of German /English puns, this paper seeks to show that their particular communicative attractiveness can be accounted for by considering their linguistic make-up and the way in which they are cognitively processed in light of the contexts in which they are used. It is argued that they are special in that they result from a structural blending of material from two linguistic codes (here: German and English), while also representing blends from a cognitive and conceptual point of view like many other linguistic phenomena such as metaphors and metonymies. Acknowledging the present status of English in Germany, it is shown what cognitive investments readers have to make to get behind the meaning of bilingual puns and what discursive effects may unfold when they are implemented in journalistic texts.