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In a story, an allotopy is when two basic meaning traits (semes) contradict each other; that is, when they trace two incompatible interpretations. It was conceived as being the opposite of an isotopy, which is the homogeneity resulting from repetition of the same seme. [1] The concept was coined in the 1970s by the Belgian semioticians known as Groupe μ .
In the 1970, the Belgian semioticians known under the name Groupe μ , introduced the concept of Allotopy. [2] They first discussed the concept in publications like Isotopie et allotopie, [3] Isotopie, allotopie et polytopie (1976), [4] and A Rhetoric of Poetry (1977). [5]
Groupe μ discussed the relation of allotopy to jokes and humor.[ citation needed ] Salvatore Attardo, despite not using the term allotopy, formulated a theory of humor based on the idea of the "incompatible interpretations", called the isotopy-disjunction model. [6] [7] This is part of the broader idea of defining humor as based on contradiction/incongruity.