Chapter published in:
The Dynamics of Interactional Humor: Creating and negotiating humor in everyday encounters
Edited by Villy Tsakona and Jan Chovanec
[Topics in Humor Research 7] 2018
► pp. 77–104

The pragmatics of humor in bilingual conversations

| University of the Aegean
| Ankara University
In this study, we analyze conversations recorded during ethnographic research the Muslim community of Rhodes, a Greek island close to Turkey's coast. The community is bilingual in Turkish and Greek. We examine aspects of the overall and sequential organization of talk as well as instances of humor produced by the code alternation choices that speakers of different ethnic origin, generation and social groups make during interaction. Being essentially a conversational practice, code-switching is primarily analyzed in the conversational context in which it appears as a meaningful choice of bilingual speakers. In this context, humorous code-switchings are seen as pertaining to a continuum of (a) discourse related alternations connected to pragmatic parameters of the organization of talk-in-interaction, and (b) participant related alternations strategically used for the construction of aspects of the bilingual identity as well as dynamic alignments among participants.
Keywords: bilingual communities, bilingual humor, code-switching
Published online: 05 January 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.7.04geo
References

References

Androutsopoulos, Jannis
(2001) From the streets to the screens and back again: On the mediated diffusion of variation patterns in contemporary German. LAUD Linguistic Agency, Series A: No. 522. Universität Essen.Google Scholar
Archakis, Argiris & Tsakona, Villy
(2005) Analyzing conversational data in GTVH terms: A New approach to the issue of identity construction via humor. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 18: 41–68. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore
(1994) Linguistic theories of humor. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2001) Humorous texts: A semantic and pragmatic analysis. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Auer, Peter
(1984) Bilingual conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1988) A conversation analytic approach to code-switching and transfer. In Monica Heller (Ed.), Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives (pp. 187–213). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1995) The pragmatics of code-switching: A sequential approach. In Lesley Milroy & Pieter Muysken (Eds.), One speaker, two languages (pp. 115–135). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1998) Introduction: Bilingual conversation revisited. In Peter Auer (Ed.), Code-switching in conversation: Language, interaction and identity (pp. 1–24). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2005) A postscript: Code-switching and social identity. Journal of Pragmatics, 37 (3), 403–410. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Auer, Peter (2010) Code-switching/mixing. In Ruth Wodak, Barbara Johnstone & Paul E. Kerswill (Eds.), The Sage handbook of sociolinguistics (pp. 460–478). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Blom, Jan Petter & Gumperz, John J.
(1972) Social meaning in linguistic structures: Code-switiching in Norway. In Dell Hymes & John J. Gumperz (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 407–434). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Chiaro, Delia
(1992) The language of jokes: Analyzing verbal play. London: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chovanec, Jan
(2011) Humor in quasi-conversations. Constructing fun in online sports journalism. In Marta Dynel (Ed.), The pragmatics of humor across discourse domains (pp. 243–264). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) Eavesdropping on media talk: Microphone gaffes and unintended humor in sports broadcasts. Journal of Pragmatics, 95, 93–106. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Deppermann, Arnulf
(2007) Playing with the voice of the other: Stylized Kanaksprak in conversations among German adolescents. In Peter Auer (Ed.), Style and social identities. Alternative approaches to linguistic heterogeneity (pp. 325–360). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Drew, Paul
(1987) Pofaced receipts of teases. Linguistics, 25: 219–253. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dynel, Marta
(2009) Beyond a joke: Types of conversational humor. Language and Linguistics Compass 3: 1284–1299. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Joker in the pack. Towards determining the status of humorous framing in conversations. In Marta Dynel (Ed.), The pragmatics of humor across discourse domains (pp. 217–242). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, Susan & Lampert, Martin
(2009) The occasioning of self-disclosure humor. In Neal R. Norrick & Delia Chiaro (Eds.), Humor in interaction (pp. 3–27). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A.
([1965] 2000) Who speaks what language to whom and when? In Li Wei (Ed.), The bilingualism reader (pp. 89–106). London: Routledge. (Reprinted from: La Linguistique 2 (1965): 67–88.)Google Scholar
Gafaranga, Joseph
(2007) Talk in two languages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra & Finnis, Katerina
(2009) Code-switching “in site” for fantasizing identities: A case study of conventional uses of London Cypriot Greek. Pragmatics 19: 467–488. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Georgalidou, Marianthi, Kaili, Hasan & Çeltek, Aytaç
(2010) Code-alternation patterns in bilingual conversation: Α conversation analysis approach. Journal of Greek Linguistics 10: 317–344. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Georgalidou, Marianthi, Spyropoulos, Vassilis & Kaili, Hasan
(2011) Spoken varieties of Greek in the bilingual Muslim Community of Rhodes. In Αlexandra Galani & George Tsoulas (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. http://​83​.212​.19​.218​/icgl7​/Georgalidou​-et​-al​.pdf
Georgalidou, Marianthi, Kaili, Hasan & Çeltek, Aytaç
(2013) Code alternation patterns in bilingual family conversations: Implications for an integrated model of analysis. In Peter Auer, Javier Caro & Göz Kaufman (Eds.), Language variation- European perspectives IV (pp. 117–128). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014) Intergenerational Greek/Turkish conversations. In Maria Christodoulidou (Ed.), Analyzing Greek talk-in-interaction (pp. 184–217). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Grice, H. Paul (1975) Logic and conversation. In Peter Cole & Jerry L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics, v. 3 (pp. 41–58). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J.
(1982) Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet
(2006) Sharing a laugh: Pragmatic aspects of humor and gender in the workplace. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 26–50. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, Gail
(1979) A technique for inviting laughter and its subsequent acceptance/declination. In George Psathas (Ed.), Everyday language: Studies in ethnomethodology (pp. 79–96). New York: Irvington.Google Scholar
(1984) On the organization of laughter in talk about troubles. In Maxwell Atkinson & John Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 347–369). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, J. Normann
(2005) Plurilingual conversations among bilingual adolescents. Journal of Pragmatics 37 (3), 391–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kaili, Hasan, Spyropoulos, Vassilios, Georgalidou, Marianthi & Çeltek, Aytaç
(2009) Causative constructions in the Τurkish variety of the bilingual Muslim Community of Rhodes: Α preliminary study. In Sıla Ay, Özgür Aydın, İclal Ergenç, Seda Gökmen, Selçuk İşsever & Dilek Peçenek (Eds.), Essays on Turkish linguistics: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Turkish Linguistics (pp. 403–412). Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz-Verlag.Google Scholar
Kaili, Hasan, Çeltek, Aytaç & Georgalidou, Marianthi
(2012) Complement clauses in the Turkish variety spoken by Greek-Turkish bilingual children on Rhodes, Greece. Turkic Languages 16: 106–120.Google Scholar
Kakava, Christina
(2002) Opposition in Modern Greek discourse: Cultural and contextual constraints. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1537–1568. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kersten, Kristin
(2009) Humor and interlanguage in a bilingual elementary school setting. In Neal R. Norrick & Delia Chiaro (Eds.), Humor in interaction (pp. 187–210). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lytra, Vally
(2007) Play frames and social identities: Contact encounters in a Greek primary school. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley & Li, Wei
(1995) A social network approach to code-switching. In Lesley Milroy & Pieter Muysken (Eds.), One speaker, two languages (pp. 136–157). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mulkay, Michael
(1988) On Humor: Its nature and its place in modern society. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol
(1988) Codeswitching as indexical of social negotiations. In Monica Heller (Ed.), Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives (pp. 151–186). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol & Bolonyai, Agnes
(2001) Calculating speakers: Codeswitching in a rational choice model. Language in Society 30: 1–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nash, Walter
(1985) The language of humor. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Norrick, Neal R.
(1993) Conversational joking: Humor in everyday talk. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben
(1995) Crossing. Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Tsakona, Villy
(2013) The sociolinguistics of humor: Theory, functions and teaching. Athens: Grigoris Publications. [In Greek]Google Scholar
Venour, Chris, Graeme, Ritchie & Mellish, Chris (2011) Dimensions of incongruity in register humor. In Marta Dynel (Ed.), The pragmatics of humor across discourse domains (pp. 125–146). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Ashley M.
(2005) Fighting words and challenging expectations: Language alternation and social roles in a family dispute. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(3), 317–328. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Winford, Donald
(2003) An introduction to contact linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

No author info given
2020. Soziolinguistische Bibliographie europäischer Länder für 2018Sociolinguistic Bibliography of European Countries for 2018Bibliographie sociolinguistique des pays européens pour 2018. Sociolinguistica 34:1 ► pp. 277 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 december 2021. 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.