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Article published In:
Humour in Spanish Context
Edited by Larissa Timofeeva-Timofeev
[Spanish in Context 18:1] 2021
► pp. 136–159

The role of humorous elements in Cádiz chirigotas in creating/reinforcing a local identity

A relevance-theoretic approach

| Universidad de Sevilla

This paper adopts a relevance-theoretic perspective to analyse how chirigotas – one of the types of bands in Cádiz carnival – exploit a series of verbal and visual comic elements in order to create or reinforce local identity: (i) the names of the bands, (ii) their attire, (iii) gestures and (iv) the lyrics of their comical songs, which satirise, mock, criticise, ridicule, praise, flatter or censure events or states of affairs. These elements will be argued to make manifest assumptions, activate (private) mental frames or express attitudes about those events or states of affairs, which the audience discover are already manifest to, and shared by, its members. Checking that other people entertain similar assumptions about and/or have similar attitudes towards those events or states of affairs – i.e. the ‘joy of manifestness’ – will be shown to be essential for generating a feeling of in-group membership on which that of a local identity greatly depends.

Keywords: humour, Cádiz carnival, relevance theory
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cádiz carnival and its groups
  • 3.Relevance theory and humour
    • 3.1Relevance and comprehension
    • 3.2The relevance-theoretic approach to humour
  • 4.Creating/reinforcing a local identity through humorous elements
    • 4.1Chirigotas’ names
    • 4.2The disguise
    • 4.3The lyrics
    • 4.4Paralanguage
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.00071.pad
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