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Pragmatics: Online-First Articles

The role of multimodality and intertextuality in accentuating humor in Algerian Hirak’s posters

| Jordan University of Science and Technology
| Moulay Tahar University
This study investigates how the interaction between multimodal modes and intertextual resources accentuates humor functions. Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (2006) was adopted to analyze a set of sixty humorous online posters of Hirak’s movements. The results revealed that humor was generated from the purposeful interplay of various semiotic modes and the reproduction and recontextualization of shared socio-cultural and political resources. The protesters utilized cartoon characters, religious discourse, folk traditions, and cultural mundane to represent the authority’s members humorously as lawbreakers, prisoners, robbers, and gangsters. This humorous exposition has placed the authority members outside the Algerian societal in-group boundaries. In contrast, such a device has enhanced conformity among the protesters and exhibited their superiority over the ruling outer group. We hope such an investigation will pave the grounds for further studies and provide insights into multimodal discourse analysis.
Keywords: Algerian Hirak , Multimodal Discourse Analysis, multimodality, intertextuality, humor
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background and related studies
    • 2.1Multimodality
    • 2.2Humor in protest discourse
    • 2.3Intertextuality
  • 3.Methods and procedures of data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Analysis of language metafunctions
      • 4.1.1Representational metafunction
      • 4.1.2Interactive metafunction
      • 4.1.3Compositional metafunction
    • 4.2The role of multimodal mode interaction and intertextual resources in vocalizing humor
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 2 November 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.22008.ala
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