Acknowledgements

The bulk of the research reported in this book is based on my PhD thesis that was supported by a grant from the University of Antwerp, Belgium (IWS BOF UAntwerpen 2012) and by a travel grant for a research stay in Australia from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO – V4.301.14N). I cannot express enough gratitude to Professor Jef Verschueren for all the opportunities with which he provided me, all his support and belief in me. I am also indebted to Associate Professor Marta Dynel and Professor Michael Haugh for their valuable suggestions and interest in my work.

I would also like to thank everyone at the former IPrA Research Center and the University of Antwerp, my friends worldwide, those who have agreed to be interviewed, and, of course, my family for letting me fly so far away to my new (academic) home and always being there for me.

Different parts of this volume have already been published as articles or chapters. I am grateful to Elsevier, John Benjamins and De Gruyter for granting me the permission to include that work in this book.

Finally, I would like to thank the editorial team of the Topics in Humor Research series and an anonymous reviewer for useful suggestions.