media language, humour, media discourse analysis, Victor Ruskin, Ontological Semantic Theory of Humour, the humorousness of the diaphoric, Marta Dynel, Jan Chovanec, humour construction in online newspapers, the participatory media, blogging, multi-voiced heteroglossic texts

With Language and Humour in the Media, the current research gap between what we know about humour and its place, mechanisms and function in the media seems to be substantially reduced. As the editors say in their introductory chapter, ?the volume brings together two areas that have not been previously subject to extensive attention by researchers: the interface between humour studies and media discourse analysis? (p. 4). Reasons for this neglect lie in researchers? focus on revealing the ?mere? mechanics of humour and on exploring the function of various types of humorous texts rather than investigating the contact between the humorous content and particular domains, media discourse being just one possible (but rich and fruitful) area. Then there is the diversity of mapping and choosing from all the forms that humour takes in the modern media so editors are inevitably faced with difficult decisions as to where to focus their attention.