This issue is dedicated to a presentation of some trends of humor research, in France, during the 1990's. -Introduction: humor research east of the Atlantic (Salvatore Attardo and Jean-Charles Chabanne) -The stereotypes of "deep France" in the Almanach Vermot (Bernard Chanfrault ) -Aspects of the unsaid in humor (Marlene Dolitsky) -Cognitive aspects of the humor process: the concept of incongruity (Giovannantonio Forabosco) -Humor: a didactic adjuvant (Yves Gentilhomme) -Argumentation and the comic in the works of some French linguists (Roselyne Koren) -Possible/impossible translation of jokes (Anne-Marie Laurian) -Bilingual Anglo-French humor: an analysis of the potential for humor based on the interlocking of the two languages (Christopher Leeds) -Structure of verbal jokes and comprehension in young children (Bernard Lefort ) -Jokes as a text type (Salvatore Attardo and Jean-Charles Chabanne)