Chapter 2.3
Embodiment in reciprocal laughter
Sharing laughter, gaze, and embodied stance in children’s peer group
Laughter is a mundane phenomenon that is ubiquitous in social life. This chapter examines young children’s laughter, specifically focusing on the calibration of shared laughter as it typically occurs in multiparty interactions. It discusses children’s interactional competences in calibrating emotional stances and affiliation. The analysis takes into account the multimodal features that characterise situations of reciprocal laughter, contributing to the understanding of laughter as a fully embodied social phenomenon. It shows that laughter was interactionally accomplished in ways that established affiliation between a group or a dyad of children. The establishment of mutual gaze was important in initiating, reciprocating and sustaining shared emotional stance through the performance of laughter. The embodied calibration of the children’s shared stance shows that laughter is used in the establishment of affiliation and rapport. Young children’s situated humor and ‘funniness’ is thus clearly a joint, shared interactional and social – dyadic or multiparty – accomplishment.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Shared laughter
- 1.2Children’s laughter
- 2.Analysis
- 2.1The emergence of a multiparty laughing bout
- 2.2Embodied reciprocation and sharing of laughter in peer dyad
- 2.3Responding to teacher disciplining by sustaining and escalating Peer affiliative laughter
- 3.Concluding discussion
-
Notes
-
References
References
Andrén, Mats, and Asta Cekaite
2017 “
Emotion and Moral Knowledge in Preschool Children’s Interactions.” In
Children and Knowledge Production: Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by
Amanda Bateman, and
Amelia Church, 127–147. Singapore: Springer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bainum, Charlene K., Lounsbury, Karen R., and Pollio, Howard. R.
1984 “
The Development of Laughing and Smiling in Nursery School Children.”
Child Development 55 (5): 1946–957.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Björk-Willen, Polly
2007 “
Participation in Multilingual Preschool Play: Shadowing and Crossing as Interactional Resources”.
Journal of Pragmatics 39 (12): 2133–2158.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cekaite, Asta, and Aronsson, Karin
2014 ”
Language Play, Peer Group Improvisations, and L2 Learning”. In
Children’s Peer Talk: Learning From Each Other, ed. by
Asta Cekaite,
Shoshana Blum-Kulka,
Vibeke Gröver, and
Eva Teubal, 194–213. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cekaite, Asta, and Björk-Willén, Polly
2018 “
Enchantment In Storytelling: Co-Operation and Participation In Children’s Aesthetic Experience”.
Linguistics and Education 48: 52–60.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cekaite, Asta, and Andrén, Mats
2019 “
Children’s Laughter and Emotion Sharing with Peers and Adults in the Preschool”.
Frontiers in Psychology 10: 852.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cekaite, Asta, and Mondada, Lorenza
(eds) 2021 Touch in Social Interaction: Touch, Language, and Body. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corsaro, William
2005 The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Danby, Susan J.
2002 “
The Communicative Competence of Young Children”.
Australian Journal of Early Childhood 27 (3): 25–30.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dunn, Judy
2003 “
Emotional Development in Early Childhood: A Social Relational Perspective”. In
Handbook of Affective Sciences, ed. by
Richard J. Davidson,
Klaus R. Scherer, and
H. Hill Goldsmith, 332–346. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dowling, Marion
2014 Young Children’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development. (4th edition. London: Sage.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jefferson, Gail
1979 “
A Technique for Inviting Laughter and its Subsequent Acceptance Declination”. In
Everyday Language: Studies in Ethnomethodology, ed. by
George Psathas, 219–48. New York: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jefferson, Gail
1984 “
On the Organization of Laughter in Talk about Troubles”. In
Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by
J. Maxwell Atkinson, and
John Heritage, 346–69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jefferson, Gail, Sacks, Harvey, and Schegloff, Emanuel
1987 “
Notes On Laughter in the Pursuit of Intimacy”. In
Talk and Social Organization, ed. by
Graham Button, and
John R. E. Lee 152–205. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Glenn, Philip. J.
1989 “
Initiating Shared Laughter in Multi-Party Conversations”.
Western Journal of speech communication 53: 127–49.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Glenn, Philip J.
2003 Laughter in Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Charles
1981 Conversational Organization: Interaction Between Speakers and Hearers. New York: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Charles
2018 Co-operative Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Charles, and Goodwin, Marjorie. H.
2004 Participation. In
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, ed. by
Alessandro Duranti, 222–243. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Marjorie. H.
1990 He-said-she-said. Talk as Social Organization Among Black Children. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Marjorie. H.
2006 The Hidden Life of Girls. Blackwell Wiley.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Marjorie H., and Cekaite, Asta
2018 Embodied Family Choreography: Practices of Control, Care and Mundane Creativity. New York: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goodwin, Marjorie H., Cekaite, Asta, and Goodwin, Charles
2012 “
Emotion as Stance”. In
Emotion in Interaction, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä, and
Marja-Leena Sorjonen, 16–43. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haakana, Markku
2010 “
Laughter and Smiling: Notes on Co-occurrence”.
Journal of Pragmatics 42: 499–1512.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haakana, Markku
2012 “
Laughter in Conversation: The Case of “Fake” Laughter”. In
Emotion in Interaction, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä, and
Marja-Leena Sorjonen, 174–194. Oxford: University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hoicka, Elena, and Akhtar, Nameera
2012 “
Early Humour Production”.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology 30 (4): 586–603.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holt, Elizabeth
2010 “
The Last Laugh: Shared Laughter and Topic Termination”.
Journal of Pragmatics 42: 1513–1525.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kendon, Adam
1990 “
Spatial Organization in Social Encounters. The F-Formation System”. In
Conducting Interaction. Patterns of Behavior in Focused Encounters ed. by
Adam Kendon, 209–230. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Markaki, Vassiliki, Merlino, Sara, Mondada, Lorenza and Florence, Oloff
2010 “
Laughter in Professional Meetings: The Organization of an Emergent Ethnic Joke”.
Journal of Pragmatics 42: 1526–1542.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McGhee, Paul E.
1989 “
Chapter 5: The Contribution of Humor to Children’s Social Development”.
Journal of Children in Contemporary Society, Part 2. Social and Emotional benefits 20 (1–2): 119–134.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Meyer, Christian, Streek, Jürgen, and J. Scott Jordan
2017 “
Intercorporeality: Emerging Socialities in Social Interaction. Introduction”. In
Intercorporeality: Beyond the body. ed.
Christan Meyer,
Jürgen Streek, and
J. Scott Jordan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rossano, Federico
2015 “
Gaze in Conversation”. In
Handbook of Conversation Analysis ed. by
Jack Sidnell, and
Tanya Stivers, 308–329. Blackwell Wiley.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ruusuvuori, Johanna
2013 “
Emotion, Affect, and Conversation.” In
The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. ed. by
Jack Sidnell, and
Tanya Stivers, 330–349. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sacks, Harvey
1996 Lectures on Conversation. (vol. 2). ed. by
Jefferson, G. Oxford: Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sarra, Simone, and Otta, Emma
2001 ”
Different Types of Smiles and Laughter in Preschool Children”.
Psychological Reports 89: 547–558.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Theobald, Maryanne
2017 “
Children as Research Participants in Educational Research Using Video-Stimulated Accounts”.
International Journal of Educational Research 86: 131–143.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Theobald, Maryanne, and Reynolds, Edward
2015 “
In Pursuit of Some Appreciation: Assessment and Group Membership in Children’s Second Stories”.
Text and Talk 35 (3): 407–430.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Walker, Gareth
2013 “
Young Children’s Use of Laughter After Transgressions”.
Research on Language and Social Interaction 46 (4): 363–382.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Jin, Ying, Younhee Helen Kim & Mia Huimin Chen
2022.
Alignment, Affiliation, and Engagement: Mothers’Wowin Parent-Child Interactions.
Research on Language and Social Interaction 55:3
► pp. 279 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 may 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.