1887
Volume 32, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0929-0907
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9943
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

This paper examines the interconnection of performers’ institutional identity, audience’s perspectives and offensive jokes in our contemporary world, where there are increasing debates on humourists’ rights to free speech and audience’s (or the target’s) right to face wants. Commonly, because of their social licence for deviant behaviour, humourists in public joking genres like stand-up comedy and satirical television shows play with the limits of jokes. However, people could take offence whether they are the target of the joke or not. Adopting a socio-cognitive pragmatics perspective, I explore the significance of participants’ institutional identity in performance humour and how institutional mapping of roles should determine saliency in the interpretation of humorous cues. Using Trevor Noah’s France world cup joke, I argue that the interactional structure of performance humour allows comedians to privatise common ground features while the audience cannot adopt the same egocentric strategy in the interpretation of jokes.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/pc.24024.fil
2025-09-26
2026-05-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Adetunji, Akin
    2013 The interactional context of humour in Nigerian stand-up comedy. Pragmatics23(1). 1–22.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aarons, Debra & Marc Mierowsky
    2017 How to do things with jokes: Speech acts in stand-up comedy. The European Journal of Humour Research5(4). 158–168. 10.7592/EJHR2017.5.4.aarons
    https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2017.5.4.aarons [Google Scholar]
  3. Aljazeera
    Aljazeera. Oct. 31 2020 Macron says he understands Muslims’ shock over Prophet cartoons. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/31/frances-macron-cartoons-came-from-free-and-independent-news
  4. Attardo, Salvatore
    2020The linguistics of humour: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780198791270.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198791270.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  5. 2017 The GTVH and humorous discourse. InWladyslaw Chlopicki & Dorota Brzozowska (eds.), Humorous discourse, 93–105. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9781501507106‑005
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501507106-005 [Google Scholar]
  6. 2001Humorous texts: A semantic and pragmatic analysis. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110887969
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110887969 [Google Scholar]
  7. Bell, Allan
    2014The guidebook to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Bell, Nancy
    2015We are not amused: Failed humour in interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9781501501586
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501501586 [Google Scholar]
  9. Carell, Amy
    1997 Humour communities. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research10(1). 11–24. 10.1515/humr.1997.10.1.11
    https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1997.10.1.11 [Google Scholar]
  10. Colston, Herber L.
    2008 A new look at common ground: Memory, egocentrism, and joint meaning. InIstvan Kecskes & Jacob Mey (eds.), Intention, common ground and the egocentric speaker-hearer, 151–188. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110211474.2.151
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110211474.2.151 [Google Scholar]
  11. Comedy Central UK
    Comedy Central UK. Did Africa just win the world cup: The daily show with Trevor Noah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJMG27YYAWU (Accessed12 February, 2024)
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Drew, Paul & John Heritage
    1992 Analysing talk at work: An introduction. InPaul Drew & John Heritage (eds.), Talk at work, 3–65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Dynel, Marta
    2009Humorous garden-paths: A pragmatic-cognitive study. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. 2012 Garden paths, red lights and crossroads: On finding our way to understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying jokes. Israeli Journal of Humour Research1(1). 6–28.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Ermida, Isabel
    2012 News satire in the press: Linguistic construction of humour in spoof news articles. InJan Chovanec & Isabel Ermida (eds.), Language and humour in the media, 185–210. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Etogho, Elvine Belinda Andjembe, Syhynx Egbe-Mbah Eben & Amy L. Dalton
    2023 French neocolonialism in Africa: Historical overview and summary of current events. American Journal of Economics and Sociology81(5).
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Filani, Ibukun
    2021 The stand-up comedian as an egocentric communicator. Intercultural Pragmatics18(1). 1–23. 10.1515/ip‑2021‑0001
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2021-0001 [Google Scholar]
  18. 2017 On joking contexts: An example of stand-up comedy. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research30(4). 439–460. 10.1515/humor‑2016‑0107
    https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2016-0107 [Google Scholar]
  19. 2015 Discourse types in stand-up performances: An example of Nigerian stand-up comedy. European Journal of Humour Research3(1). 41–60. 10.7592/EJHR2015.3.1.filani
    https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2015.3.1.filani [Google Scholar]
  20. Giora, Rachael
    2003On our mind: Salience, context and figurative language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195136166.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195136166.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  21. Glick, Douglas J.
    2007 Some performative techniques of stand-up comedy: An exercise in the textuality of temporalization. Language and Communication271. 291–306. 10.1016/j.langcom.2007.01.003
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2007.01.003 [Google Scholar]
  22. Greenbaum, Andrea
    1999 Stand-up comedy as rhetorical argument: An investigation of comic culture. Humour12(1). 33–46.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Hutchby, Ian
    1996Confrontation talk: Arguments, asymmetries, and power on talk radio. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Irvine, Judith
    2022 Revisiting theory and method in language ideology research. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology32(1). 222–236. 10.1111/jola.12335
    https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12335 [Google Scholar]
  25. Kecskes, Istvan
    2014Intercultural Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Keysar, Boaz
    2008 Egocentric processes in communication and miscommunication. InIstvan Kecskes & Jacob Mey (eds.), Intention, common ground and the egocentric speaker-hearer, 277–296. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110211474.2.277
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110211474.2.277 [Google Scholar]
  27. Kramer, Elise
    2011 The playful is political: The metapragmatics of internet rape-joke arguments. Language and Society40(2). 137–168. 10.1017/S0047404511000017
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404511000017 [Google Scholar]
  28. Krefting, Rebecca
    2014All joking aside: American humour and its discontents. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Kuipers, Giselinde
    2011 The politics humour in the public sphere: Cartoons, power and modernity in the first transnational humour scandal. European Journal of Cultural Studies14(1). 63–80. 10.1177/1367549410370072
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549410370072 [Google Scholar]
  30. 2006Good humour, bad taste: A sociology of the joke. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110898996
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110898996 [Google Scholar]
  31. Linares-Bernabéu, Esther
    2023 Co-constructing humour and gender identity in live stand-up comedy. InEsther Linares-Bernabéu (ed.), The pragmatics of humour in interactive contexts, 200–216. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.335.09ber
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.335.09ber [Google Scholar]
  32. Martin, Rod A.
    2014 Humour and gender: An overview of psychological research. InDelia Chiaro & Raffaella Baccolini (eds.), Gender and humour: Interdisciplinary and international perspectives, 123–146. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Mintz, Lawrence
    1985 Stand-up comedy as social and cultural mediation. American Quarterly37(1). 71–80. 10.2307/2712763
    https://doi.org/10.2307/2712763 [Google Scholar]
  34. Ruiz-Gurillo, Leonor
    2019 Performing gender through stand-up comedy in Spanish. European Journal of Humour Research7(2). 67–86. 10.7592/EJHR2019.7.2.ruiz
    https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2019.7.2.ruiz [Google Scholar]
  35. 2016 Metapragmatics of humour: Variability, negotiability and adaptability in humorous monologues. InLeonor Ruiz-Gurillo (ed.), Metapragmatics of humour, 79–101. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/ivitra.14.05rui
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.14.05rui [Google Scholar]
  36. 2015 Phraseology for humour in Spanish: Types, functions and discourse. Lingvisticæ Investigatines: International Journal of Linguistics and Language Resources38(2). 191–212. 10.1075/li.38.2.01rui
    https://doi.org/10.1075/li.38.2.01rui [Google Scholar]
  37. Santiago, Marina & Sarah Seewoester Cain
    2017 Audience affiliation, membership categories, and the construction of humour in stand-up comedy. InWladyslaw Chlopicki & Dorota Brzozowska (eds.), Humorous discourse, 155–177. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9781501507106‑008
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501507106-008 [Google Scholar]
  38. Scarpetta, Fabiola & Anna Spagnolli
    2009 The interactional context of humour in stand-up comedy. Research on Language and Social Interaction. 42(3). 210–230. 10.1080/08351810903089159
    https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810903089159 [Google Scholar]
  39. Seizer, Susan
    2011 On the uses of obscenity in live stand-up comedy. Anthropological Quarterly84(1). 209–234. 10.1353/anq.2011.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2011.0001 [Google Scholar]
  40. Sunday, Adesina Bukunmi & Ibukun Filani
    2018 Playing with culture: Nigerian stand-up comedians joking with cultural beliefs and representations. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research32(1). 97–124. 10.1515/humor‑2017‑0085
    https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2017-0085 [Google Scholar]
  41. Tsakona, Villy
    2021Recontextualizing humour: Rethinking the analysis and teaching of humour. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. 2017 Genres of humour. InSalvatore Attardo (ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and humour, 489–503. New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9781315731162‑34
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315731162-34 [Google Scholar]
  43. Vigouroux, Cecile B.
    2015 Genre, heteroglossic performances, and new identity: Stand-up comedy in modern French society. Language in Society441. 243–272. 10.1017/S0047404515000068
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404515000068 [Google Scholar]
  44. Wales, Katie
    2011A dictionary of stylistics (3rd edn). New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Yus, Francisco
    2016Humour and relevance. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/thr.4
    https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.4 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/pc.24024.fil
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/pc.24024.fil
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error