Gelotophobia in practice and the implications of ignoring it

Author(s): Tracey Platt,Rene T. Proyer,Jennifer Hofmann,W. Larry Ventis / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

Over 85 empirical articles investigating the fear of being laughed at have been published. Still, the question “why bother with another inter-individual differences variable?” arises. This quantitative paper based on 240 people, aims to show why gelotophobia has been widely neglected in therapeutic settings and why therapists may not have come across gelotophobes in their practice. Second, examples of extreme case studies involving gelotophobe’s perspective on treatment, exploring the practice and challenges arising in treatments will be given. Finally, an argument why there is a need for the inclusion of gelotophobia awareness for schools and for bullying interventions is proposed. Conclusions are drawn suggesting the importance of inclusion of this phenomenon.

Book review

Author(s): Efharis Mascha / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

Logic and reasoning in jokes

Author(s): Graeme Ritchie / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

It has often been remarked that jokes involve some form of distorted logic, but the details ofthis joke logic have not been fully explored. We offer a contribution to the methodology of thisexploration by clarifying some abstract theoretical distinctions. Firstly, we separate twocrucially different notions of “reasoning” which are relevant to joke comprehension: internallogic and audience inference. Internal logic is a system of logical rules, in the traditionalsense, which define relationships within the fictional world of the joke, particularly therelation of consequence. Audience inference is a dynamic process which the recipient of ajoke undertakes in order to make sense of it. Previous writings on the topic of logic in jokesseem to conflate these two very different concepts. Another distinction which is sometimesoverlooked is between internal logic and other joke techniques with different functions, suchas strategies for presenting information. We also consider whether the logic of jokes requiresa qualitatively different inference mechanism from that of conventional logic, concluding thatthere is not yet any evidence to suggest this. Finally, we reflect on how we might go on toaddress the open question of what is possible as pseudo-logic within a joke.

Exploring Canarian humour in the first locally produced sitcom in RTVC

Author(s): Maria-Isabel Gonzalez-Cruz / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2013

Between December 2011 and May 2012, the public television channel (RTVC) in the Canary Islands (Spain) aired, in prime time, the first locally produced situation comedy. Titled La Revoltosa (henceforth LR), it was the most ambitious production in the channel’s more than 14 years of existence. This series was said to display a humorous interpretation of Canarian society. Indeed, according to the executive producer, the characters reflected ordinary Canarian families. One of the attractions of the series was the inclusion of popular Canarian comedian Manolo Vieira as the main protagonist. In this paper, I briefly outline the strategies typically used by this important figure of Canarian humour before I discuss two episodes of LR to explore the resources they employ to provoke humour. Particularly, I study the role played by language, and analyse how characters and situations are portrayed, thus examining universal humour in contrast to regional or ethnic humour. This comparison between the humour strategies used by Manolo Vieira and the ones employed in LR will enable us to determine to what extent this sitcom favours the Canarian (ethnic) humour traditionally represented by Vieira or rather resorts to more general (universal) humour strategies and stereotypes.

Components and determinants of the shift between the own persona and the clown persona:

Author(s): Alberto Dionigi,Willibald Ruch,Tracey Platt / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2013

Working in health settings as a clown requires the ability to differentiate between the own persona and the clown persona and to stay in the role, despite a variety of challenging situations. This passage requires a cognitive shift that can be interfered with, or facilitated, by several variables. This study aims at operationalising the components involved in the shift and relating them to psychological characteristics and other relevant aspects of the training necessary to become a clinic clown. A preliminary 34-item version of the Clown Shift Questionnaire (CSQ) was developed and administered to a sample of 130 Italian clinic clowns. Relevant information such as sociodemographic characteristics, various aspects related to the training received such as length, issues taught, internship carried out, psychological knowledge, and competences in clowning were collected. Four dimensions in the shifting process were identified: reflective awareness, positive beliefs, interference, and anxiety. These dimensions represent a profile of individual differences that may be used to predict the success of the clown intervention. Reflective awareness positively correlates with the aspects related to the training and the years of clown activity, while positive beliefs is a dimension not related to training. Anxiety is higher among females and younger people and correlates negatively with training aspects and years of activity. Interferences are more frequent among those who received higher psychological knowledge and lead to less satisfaction. Further implications for using the concepts of CSQ in research and in the work of clowns in health settings are discussed.

Relevance Theory and political advertising.

Author(s): María Jesús Pinar Sanz / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

This paper aims to apply Sperber & Wilson’s Relevance Theory (1986; 1995; 1987) and the two stage incongruity-resolution theory of humour (Attardo 1994) to explain how humorous interpretations are produced in a corpus of political billboards published by the Labour Party in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 British election campaigns. The intersemiosis (O’Halloran 2008) between the verbal and the visual will be taken into account in order to decode the meanings transmitted. It will be suggested that the viewers’ access to background beliefs and assumptions in order to form a context against which new incoming information can be processed is also essential in order to decode meaning. The extraction of strongly or weakly implicated information is a good source of humorous effects. It will also be suggested that the interpretation depends on the viewer’s ideology, as “relevance is always relevance to an individual” (Sperber & Wilson 1986: 142).

Can ethnic humour appreciation be influenced by political reasons?

Author(s): Carmelo Moreno del Río / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

The aim of this paper is to compare the appreciation of humor that a sample of citizens in Spain has expressed about two different types of ethnic humor produced by two successful television programs from two autonomous communities in Spain: the Basque Country and Catalonia. Both regions are well-known in the Spanish society for their specific cultural and political features, which are seen as different from the rest of the country. To some extent, their particular character is fixed in the Spanish collective imaginary by some particular stereotypes, represented in stupidity and canniness jokes, following the model investigated by Christie Davies. In contrast to these jokes, the present study focuses on the ethnic humor circulated in these two regions, a kind of humor that is based on their specific identity and where it is possible to combine elements of self-deprecating humor and elements of aggressive humor towards Spain. More specifically, this work tries to test if the political background that these two regions represent in Spain –societies that dares the cohesion of the Spanish identity, even fighting for nationalist recognitions of political rights- could influence or not in the appreciation that the Spanish citizens as a whole have of this ethnic humor that Basques and Catalans produce.

The Singapore Mass Rapid Transport:

Author(s): Khin Wee Chen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

Political cartoons can function as a means of monitoring the level of press freedom, of government’s tolerance of free speech, and their resistance to challenges posed by opposition. It may also be argued that in this digital age the aforesaid barometric utility can extend to other satirical visual forms like memes and videos. Singapore has a long reputation for its strict media control, iron-grip on the mainstream media, and zero-tolerance for any form of spontaneous public protest. However, the arrival of the digital information age effectively eroded the government’s hegemony over the public sphere, resulting in a revitalisation of democracy and the empowerment of a traditionally docile and acquiescent citizenry with regards to politics. As with most socio-political struggles in the past, political humour can be seen playing once again an important role in the expression of dissent and criticism of the establishment in the island-state. However, unlike in the past when such political humour was the domain of a small group of professional artists and writers, the new media with its immense capabilities like powerful search engines, social networks, YouTube, Twitter and various computer applications like Photoshop and Macromedia Flash, has for the first time provided tools for ordinary people who hitherto may have lived in fear of voicing their dissatisfaction all their lives, but are now empowered to create their individual and personalised expressions of protest through the use of Internet memes and other techniques, sometimes within hours of a piece of news breaking. This paper presents a case study that demonstrates how political humour “of the people, by the people” helped fuel a public outcry against the incompetence and negligence of a Singapore public transport provider that had resulted in a series of major breakdown that brought great embarrassment to a country known for its ability to “make things work”. The public’s demand for accountability has led to the unprecedented resignation of the Chief Executive Officer.

Humorous political stunts:

Author(s): Majken Jul Sørensen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

The article introduces the concept of humorous political stunt and a new model of five types of stunts that in distinct ways challenge the prevailing order and transcend established power relations. The five types, named supportive, corrective, naive, absurd and provocative, each relate to those in power and their rationality in a different way. Supportive stunts are framed as ostensible attempts to help and protect from harm, here exemplified with a search for landmines in a Belgian bank investing in dubious companies. Corrective stunts present an alternative version of the power holders’ truth, illustrated with a Swedish peace organisation’s parody webpage of a government agency established to support arms export. In an example of a naive stunt, Burmese opposition challenges the military junta from behind a pretended innocence. Polish resistance to socialist rule shows how the absurd stunt defies all rationality. In a contemporary Russian provocative stunt directed towards the secret police, the pranksters transcend power by appearing not to care about the consequences of infuriating the powerful. In all instances, humour is the tool of serious dissent and protest attempting to humiliate and undermine the powerful. The model has been applied to more than 40 stunts and illustrates methods of speaking truth to power that exploit humorous techniques such as irony, exaggeration or impersonation. The examples also document that humour is not always carried out at the expense of those at the bottom of society, but can indeed kick upwards in order to aim for change of the status quo.

Canned jokes in Russian public political discourse

Author(s): KSENIA M. SHILIKHINA / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

The paper addresses a well-documented genre of Russian canned jokes from a socio-pragmatic perspective. The goal of the paper is twofold: firstly, it aims at examining a relatively new phenomenon of telling jokes in public political discourse. Secondly, it argues that jokes – a typical example of a non-bona fide genre – can nevertheless be used to convey bona fide messages. As a specific sphere of communication public political discourse incorporates official interaction of professional politicians as well as publicly expressed attitudes of ordinary people. Because jokes capture our experience and reflect ongoing social processes, modern Russian political discourse in many of its forms eagerly employs the genre. But, whenever a joke is used in the official political communication, we face the discrepancy between the premise of the bona fide mode of political discourse and non-seriousness of jokes. On the surface telling jokes in political discourse might seem to be a temporal switch from the bona fide to the non-bona fide mode of communication. However, the content of canned jokes told by politicians reveals deep social implications: for instance, Vladimir Putin’s frequent references to Soviet realia are signs of superiority and control over the situation. Jokes told by Putin’s opponents, on the one hand, reveal disappointment; on the other, they are part of the struggle for power. Telling jokes in public political discourse shows that the borderline between two modes of communication – bona fide and non-bona fide – is fuzzy since jokes transmit serious messages for the participants of political communication.

Parliamentary punning:

Author(s): Villy Tsakona / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

The present study focuses on the sociopragmatic functions of punning which appears to be the most frequent form of humour Greek politicians produce in parliament. The analysis takes into consideration the institutional particularities of this setting: in parliamentary systems such as the Greek one, competition and disagreement among political parties are more intense than in presidential systems, where party coalitions and collaboration are more frequent. More specifically, I will try to answer the following questions: Are puns the only kind of humour appearing in this setting? Why do Greek parliamentarians resort to punning? How does the use of punning relate to the institutional roles Greek parliamentarians are expected to fulfill, as well as to the institutional particularities of the Greek parliament? The data examined comes from the official parliamentary proceedings, in particular from a no-confidence debate which took place in 2007. The analysis suggests that puns are used as a means of showing off verbal skills: parliamentarians try to project themselves as eloquent orators who are capable of outscoring their adversaries in a highly competitive environment. What is more, via puns parliamentarians criticise and attempt to ideologically delegitimise political decisions and practices. Puns are less often used to bring together parliamentarians and highlight their shared experiences and roles. It therefore seems that punning helps parliamentarians to accomplish their institutional tasks, criticism being (one of) the most significant of them all.

Рефлексивно-дативни конструкции с оптативно значение в българския език

Author(s): Galina Petrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2021

This article analyzes and compares two types of Bulgarian reflexivedative constructions with optative meaning: bi-clausal (Иска ми се да танцувам ‘I wish to dance’) and monoclausal (Танцува ми се ‘I feel like dancing’). It presents the structural and semantic specificity of these constructions as well as the possibilities and constrains for their use. Both structures are distinguished by the presence of a verb in the third person, the reflexive particle се and an obligatory dative clitic expressing an experiencer argument. The bi-clausal constructions are viewed as resulting from optative diathesis: аз искам да ‘I want to’ → иска ми се да ‘I wish to’. The monoclausal constructions are viewed as resulting from a further transformation: Иска ми се да танцувам → Танцува ми се. The semantic specialization of the monoclausal constructions is to express a desire for something based on an internal need (primary or secondary). The dative argument is understood as a ‘feel like/experiencer’ subject of the denoted event.

Старобългарското юридическо наследство в преводите на Петър Оджаков: аксиологични аспекти

Author(s): Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2021

When understanding the complex social processes in the Principality of Bulgaria at the end of the 19th century, the medieval legal literary-linguistic heritage was realized as a foundation for the creation of an academic style in legal science after the Bulgarian Revival. The article aims to analyze how this occurs in the personal practice of P. Odzhakov, in particular in his selective excerpts from Old Bulgarian laws (1892), how the Bulgarian legal terminology develops from the Middle to the Modern Ages. It focusses on translation decisions of the jurist in comparison with the Greek originals, the Old Bulgarian representatives, as well as other modern languages.

Insults and Swear Words in the TinTin Comic: Morpho-Pragmatic Contrastive Study

Author(s): Maria Antoniou / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Most linguists consider insults and swear words as interjections carrying an expressivefunction through which the enunciator manifests his/her emotions (Guiraud 1975; Rouayrenc1998). Their function is, therefore, cathartic. The aim of the present study is to provide acontrastive study of insults and swear words. We investigate whether there are specificmorphological or syntactic structures pertaining to insult and swear words, and discuss thecross-cultural similarities and differences in the pragmatic use of this kind of language,focusing on the perspective of politeness. In order to do so, we analyse examples drawn fromHergé’s TinTin and their translation into Greek and English, since this comic is extremelyrich in insults and swear words due to the particularities of the genre of discourse andCaptain Haddock’s expressive character, giving rise to orality and hyperbole. The questionhere is whether the implicit pragmatic and cultural values are the same in all the texts ormaybe there are important differences, derived from the particularities of each of thelanguages of study, which can be traced. It emerged that Greek prefers joined compoundwords and that the chosen utterances reflect all the parameters influencing the original, bethey phonological, semantic, pragmatic or stylistic. In contrast, the English version seems tobe more distant on all levels of linguistic analysis. Accordingly, the (non)preservation of theparameters depends on the peculiarities of, respectively, the Greek, French and Englishlanguages, as well as on the collective images of the recipients. Our conclusions match theconclusions reached in previous research, proving Greek to be rather positive politenessoriented, as opposed to English (see also Romero 2000; Sifianou 2001).

East-West.

Author(s): Arkadiusz Jabłoński,Hiroki Nukui / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Expansion of contemporary trade and information exchange relations does not seem to alter significantly the multi-layered requirements of inter-cultural communication. In a very important sense of this term, many individual decisions related to communication in a multi-cultural environment are inevitably narrowed to a single-context world. Only to some extent, this unavoidable limitation of communication on the verge of heterogeneous cultures may be overridden by omnipresent stereotypes and ad hoc generalizations. On a more advanced level of communication, it is the stereotypes that may foster the instances of miscommunication and lead to serious misunderstandings. In the paper, a short account on stereotypes in inter-cultural communication is going to be presented, with some examples of actual instances of miscommunication in the Japanese-Polish corporate environment. A proposal of a systematized approach towards the issues and intricacies of Japanese-Polish communication will follow.

Przekład pod patronatem.

Author(s): Mira Czarnecka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

Tematem artykułu jest zbadanie wpływu jaki może wywierać wydawca na sposób i zakres odzwierciedlenia w tekście przekładu elementów trzeciej kultury. Omówione zostaną kolejno: kwestia obcości w przekładzie, zjawisko elementów trzeciej kultury oraz zagadnienie funkcjonowania patronatu w systemie literackim. Badanie będzie miało formę analizy translatologicznej. Za materiał badawczy posłuży opowiadanie „The Room in Le Dragon Volant” ze zbioru In a Glass Darkly, autorstwa XIX-wiecznego, irlandzkiego pisarza Sheridana Le Fanu oraz przekład utworu na język polski, „Pokój w gospodzie Le Dragon Volant”, autorki artykułu, pochodzący z tomu W ciemnym zwierciadle. Omówiony zostanie sposób przekładu wybranych wtrętów francuskojęzycznych, zwrotu adresatywnego i dwóch realogizmów oraz zalecenia redaktora dotyczące sposobu ich transpozycji w języku polskim, jak również wynik uzgodnień pomiędzy redaktorem i tłumaczką oraz wpływ ostatecznego rozwiązania na poziom obcości tekstu docelowego. Artykuł zakończy prezentacja wniosków odnośnie wpływu wydawnictwa na przekład elementów trzeciej kultury i roli jaką tłumacz odgrywa w procesie ich adekwatnego odzwierciedlenia w języku docelowym. // The subject of the article is a research into the influence exerted by the publisher on the way and scope of rendering third culture elements in the translated text. The concept of the foreign in translation, idea of third culture elements and the issue of patronage in the literary system will be discussed in turn. The research material is a story in English titled “The Room in Le Dragon Volant” from a collection In a Glass Darkly, written by the 19th century Irish writer, Sheridan Le Fanu and its translation into Polish by the author of the article, published under the title “Pokój w gospodzie Le Dragon Volant”, in a collection W ciemnym zwierciadle. The research will involve an analysis of translation of selected examples of third culture elements, a term of address and two proper nouns in French and the discussion of recommendations from the editor regarding their transposition in the Polish language. The result of negotiations between the editor and the translator and the consequences of the adopted solution for the achieved level of foreignness in the target text will be presented. Finally, conclusions regarding the influence exerted by the publisher on the way of translation of third culture elements and the role of translator in the process of their rendering in the target language will be formulated.

Spontaneous humour and Malaysia’s democratic breakthrough in 2018

Author(s): Shanon Shah / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The 2018 Malaysian general election was the first democratic change of government in the nation’s modern history. The victory of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope – PH) coalition surprised several observers within and outside the country, especially considering the intensified repression employed by the outgoing Barisan Nasional (National Front – BN) ruling coalition leading up to the polls, including media censorship, the silencing of political opponents, and the manipulation of Islamism and ethnic Malay nationalism. This article examines the role of spontaneous, conversational humour in constructing a viable political identity for the PH. It does this by considering humorous moments during press conferences and similar media events held by the PH coalition, led by its designated choice for prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship on the role of humour in identity construction and political campaigning.

Book review

Author(s): Andreea Nicoleta Soare / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Book review

Author(s): Vasia Tsami,Vasiliki Saloustrou / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Прозодични характеристики на изречения с комуникативно маркиран и комуникативно немаркиран словоред

Author(s): Bistra Andreeva,Snezhina Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2021

The paper presents the results from a study of the interaction between intonation and information structure in SVO and OVS sentences with communicatively (un)marked alignment of information structure elements. We analyzed the prosodic features of pre-nuclear and nuclear pitch accents. The information structure elements were characterized using Steedman’s (2000) model which classifies sentence constituents as belonging to one of the following categories: theme-background, theme-focus, rheme-background and rheme-focus. Our study found that unmarked and marked alignment has no effect on the pitch range of the rheme-focus. In cases of communicatively unmarked alignment, the pitch range of the theme-background (and rheme-background) group in OVS sentences is wider than in SVO sentences. Word order has no effect on the duration of the accented syllable. Topicalized constituents belonging to the theme-background in OVS sentences with unmarked alignment form separate intermediate phrases. In cases of marked alignment, the rheme-focus ends with a phrase accent and sometimes a pause. The rheme-background and rheme-focus always take a pitch accent, whereas the theme-background is marked by a pitch accent only in cases of communicatively unmarked alignment. The theme-background is deaccented when the sentence is communicatively marked.