The Sociopragmatics of Humor
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The sociopragmatic approach to humor places emphasis on investigating the ‘local’ (i.e. social and cultural) contextual particularities which may shape humorous discourse, rather than on exploring ‘universal’ trends or practices which may be considered to be common among speakers who belong to different sociocultural communities. Such an approach presupposes a dynamic understanding of humor as a phenomenon that is contextually grounded and interactionally achieved and is identifiable by means of discursive evidence that keys a humorous intent or a possible humorous interpretation. In this chapter, we focus on the use of humor as a discursive means of identity construction and on meta-communication about humor bringing to the surface diverse sociocultural perceptions thereof. We also discuss recent analytical approaches to the sociopragmatics of humor, as well as relevant concepts from adjacent fields, thus highlighting potential interdisciplinary connections. |
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