Introduction
Journalese is a complex discourse genre which may be broken down into a large number of subgenres, e.g., the
headline, news stories, editorials, opinion columns, ads, obituaries, matrimonial columns, letters to the editor, horoscopes;
and caricatures, to give only a partial list.
Caricature, sometimes referred to as cartoon, has already established itself as a regular newspaper and magazine
subgenre; in fact, there are magazines entirely devoted to caricature — Punch is probably the most famous
example. Caricatures usually aim at amusing the reader, illuminating public opinion, expressing shared symbolic consensus
and concretizing abstract concepts (Morris, WWW). Press (1981) concludes that cartoons/caricatures are low satire, ridiculing individuals and parties (p.77).
Most caricatures contain an element of incongruity within or between schemata (Deckers
& Buttram, 1990). A schema is "a cognitive structure for representing generic knowledge in memory." It represents
"stereotypical concepts of objects, situations, and behavior sequences. Dinner at a restaurant is an example of a schema" (pp. 53-54). Deckers and Buttram (1990) identify two types of
incongruity:
(1) Within schema: when an actual event does not fit within the expected instantiation of the schema variable,
and
(2) Between schemata: when two activated schemata are opposite or incompatible with each other (p. 54). Resolution of the incongruity or incompatibility normally results in a perception of humor
in a joke or a caricature.
In spite of its popularity and cultural significance, caricature has not received adequate research attention; the focus has so
far been on political cartoons from a content analysis perspective.1 The present paper extends the application of semiotic
analysis tools to the caricature discourse genre, although on a very narrow scale.
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1. See, for example, Morris (WWW) and Press (1981).
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