Editors:   Rotimi Taiwo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
               Akin Odebunmi, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
               Akin Adetunji, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, Nigeria
 
The growth in research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the last two decades has been tremendous. CMC scholarship which is multidisciplinary in nature, covers a wide range of disciplines such as computer and information science, communication, linguistics, philosophy, sociology, psychology, education, business studies, medical sciences, and so forth. Humor in computer mediated communication is a diverse area of research. Humor in this regard can be considered as an aspect of communication (verbal and non-verbal) that provokes or elicits amusement or laughter, such as jokes, funny stories, riddles, satires, cartoons, etc. Humor includes language play, which is the manipulation of any aspect of linguistic structure, such as pronunciation, writing system, vocabulary, syllable structure, pitch, speed of speech, as a source of enjoyment. This is what Sigmund Freud calls verbal humor. Freud also talks about conceptual humor, which involves concepts or ideas that are thought of as humorous. 

Humor is a social phenomenon and serves various types of social or interpersonal functions. It may be a way of signaling social allegiances. Humor differs from one culture to another. These intercultural differences suggest that humor is actually conventionalized to some degree. Humor is constructed in different kinds of online communication and these include, social, political, religious, medical, and so forth. Humor can be found in discussion forums, blogs, emails, text and instant messages, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, virtual learning contexts, online newspapers, etc. 

This publication will bring together scholarly works on the engagement of any form of humor in computer mediated communication. The book will serve as a general reference book for scholars of language and humor studies in general and a primary reference source for those whose interests are mainly on the discursive aspects of humor in CMC. The editors invite abstracts/proposals of contributions from scholars and researchers from different regions of the world on any of the following areas (but not necessarily limited to them):  

  • Political Humor Online             
  • Humor in Online Journalism 
  • Conversational Humor Online
  • Social Media Humor (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc)
  • Ethnic Humor Online
  • Humor on the Mobile Phone
  • Linguistic Humor Online
  • Religious Humor Online
  • Visual and Pictorial Humor Online
  • Internet-based Comic Texts
  • Health Related Humour Online
  • Humor in Online Discussion Forums
  • Satire Online Communication
  • Pragmatics of Online Humor
  • Humor in Internet Memes
  • Humor in Blogs
  • Humour in Synchronous/Asynchronous Classrooms
  • Humor in Online Learning
  • Verbal and non-verbal humor in CMC
  • Humor in Online Literature
  • Humor in Online Advertising
  • Humor and Gender Online 
  • Humor and Identity Online 
  • Humor in Online Social Activism