The central aim of this paper is to apply the General Theory of Verbal
Humor (henceforth GTVH; Attardo 2001) to conversational narratives and
to integrate it with sociopragmatic approaches. We consider script
opposition as a necessary prerequisite for humor and its perlocutionary
effect (i.e. eliciting laughter) as a secondary criterion for the
characterization of a narrative as humorous. Despite the fact that one
of the most common social functions of humor is the construction of
solidarity and in-group identity, there is relatively little
sociolinguistic research on this issue. Thus, a more particular aim of
this paper is to illustrate how humor can be a flexible discourse
strategy to construct particular aspects of social identities by
focusing on a particular aspect of humor encoded in GTVH terms as the
knowledge resource of “target”. It will be shown that, in our
conversational data coming from a cohesive group of young Greek males,
interlocutors select targets either outside or inside their group and
that, while in the first case humor criticizes the “other” behavior,
in the latter case it serves as a correction mechanism of in-group
behavior in a rather covert manner. In both cases, the target of humor
reinforces the already existing bonds among group members, while
bringing the evaluative dimension of humor to the surface. It is
therefore suggested that the target of humor is an important heuristic
tool for describing its social function, revealing how it is exploited
by conversationalists to project their shared beliefs and values, i.e.
their social identity