Drawing on examples of verbal and visual humour, the paper considers briefly some ways in which Koestler’s (1964) cognitive bisociation theory of humour creation might be interpreted using analytical tools and concepts (or adaptations thereof) from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). It argues that bisociation is best interpreted as recontextualisation of some event, state or activity of which it is at the same time a coherent evolution. Recontextualisation brings conflicting value orientations to bear on ideational content. Intertextuality offers a way of explaining how these largely implicit interpersonal meanings are invoked, with reference to social norms concerning what is good or bad, allowed or not, necessary or not.
