Salvatore Attardo
Encyclopedia
Salvatore Attardo is a full professor at Texas A & M University-Commerce and the editor-in-chief of Humor, the journal for the International Society of Humor Research. He studied at Purdue University
under Victor Raskin
and extended Raskin's script-based semantic theory of humor (SSTH) into the general theory of verbal humor (GTVH). He publishes prodigiously in the field of humor in literature and is considered to be one of the top authorities in the area.
He was born March 14, 1962, in Anderlecht
, Belgium, to an Italian State Railways employee and a Belgian mother, living thereafter in Como, Italy, until adulthood. He has been a permanent resident of the United States
since 1991. He has one daughter, Gaia,
born in 1994. Attardo is a native speaker of Italian
and French
.
He has served on the thesis and dissertation committees for other humor scholars, including Christian F. Hempelmann and Katrina Triezenberg.
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
under Victor Raskin
Victor Raskin
Victor Raskin is a distinguished professor of linguistics at Purdue University. He is the author of Semantic Mechanisms of Humor and Ontological Semantics and founding editor of Humor, the journal for the International Society of Humor Studies.He is an associate director and founding faculty...
and extended Raskin's script-based semantic theory of humor (SSTH) into the general theory of verbal humor (GTVH). He publishes prodigiously in the field of humor in literature and is considered to be one of the top authorities in the area.
He was born March 14, 1962, in Anderlecht
Anderlecht
Anderlecht is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region.There are several historically and architecturally distinct districts within the Anderlecht municipality.-Pronunciation:* Dutch: * French:...
, Belgium, to an Italian State Railways employee and a Belgian mother, living thereafter in Como, Italy, until adulthood. He has been a permanent resident of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
since 1991. He has one daughter, Gaia,
born in 1994. Attardo is a native speaker of Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
He has served on the thesis and dissertation committees for other humor scholars, including Christian F. Hempelmann and Katrina Triezenberg.
Education
- Ph.D., 1991. Major: Linguistics/English. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Dissertation: “From Linguistics to Humor Research and Back: Applications of Linguistics to Humor and Their Implications for Linguistic Theory and Methodology” supervised by Professor Victor Raskin. (Dissertations Abstracts International. 1992 July; 53(1): 136A. Purdue U. DA9215518).
- Doctorate, 1986. Major: French Language and Literature /Linguistics (Summa cum laude), Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Dissertation: “For a Synthesis of Linguistic Research on Humor” [in Italian] supervised by Professor Eddo Rigotti.
Experience
- August 2008–Present: Professor, Department of Literature and Languages, Texas A & M University-Commerce.
- August 2000–2008: Professor, Department of English, Youngstown SU.
- September 1996–2000: Associate Professor, Department of English, Youngstown SU.
- September 1992 - Sept. 1996: Assistant Professor, Department of English, Youngstown SU.
- March 1994 - 1995: English as a Second Language Program, Coordinator, Youngstown SU.
- Fall 2003 Visiting Professor, Purdue University.
- August 1991 - May 1992: Visiting Lecturer, Department of English, Purdue University.
- January 1991 - May 1991: Visiting Lecturer, Department of English and Linguistics, Indiana University/Purdue University at Ft. Wayne.
Major publications
- Second edition of Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation. 2005. (464 p.)
- Workbook for Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2005. (83 p.)
- Humorous Texts: A semantic and pragmatic analysis. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. 2001. (238 p.)
- Quiz Booklet to accompany Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2001. (with Steve Brown) (62 p.)
- Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2000. (with Steve Brown) (411p.)
- Linguistic Theories of Humor, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1994. (426 p.)
- (Reviewed in Language 72:1, 1996; 132-136; Grazer Linguistische Studies 45,139-145, 1996; Pragmatics 5:3, 395-396, 1995; Discourse and Society 1, 151-153, 1996; Anthropological Linguistics 4:31, 1996; Germanistika 2, 368-369, 1995; HUMOR 8:4 1995, Le scienze 318, 91, 1995; Journal of Pragmatics 24, 606-610, 1996; Studies in Language 20:3, 667-679, 1996; Folia Linguistica 29:1-2, 181, 1995; Lingua e stile 31:4, 674-675, 1996; L’homme 37:142, 117-119, 1997; and others.)
- “Script Theory Revis(it)ed: Joke similarity and joke representation model.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 4:3/4, 1991, pp. 347–411. (With Victor RaskinVictor RaskinVictor Raskin is a distinguished professor of linguistics at Purdue University. He is the author of Semantic Mechanisms of Humor and Ontological Semantics and founding editor of Humor, the journal for the International Society of Humor Studies.He is an associate director and founding faculty...
.)
Trivia
As a teenager, Attardo attended a High School specializing in Humanities (Liceo Ginnasio Statale Alessando Volta, Como) where along with fellow students he published a satyrical magazine on the school life, its teachers and principal, called "Giravolta." In these early days, he was known by the nickname of "Pidou."Further reading
- Attardo et al. (1994) The linear organization of jokes: analysis of two thousand texts Humor - International Journal of Humor Research. Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 27–54