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Volume 14, Issue 2
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Abstract

Abstract

This paper deals with the pragmatic functions of verbal and visual humor in Covid-19 related directive signs. Within the framework of material and social semiotics, I analyze humorous directive signs from the Berlin district Friedrichshain communicating hygiene rules and proper social behavior during the re- opening phase of local businesses after the first lockdown in 2020. The interplay of multilingual, graphic and intertextual features in the signs reveals two pragmatic functions: On the one hand, they express hygienic measures; on the other hand, the signs do relational work and foster community-building aimed at both general and very specific audiences. This is done by drawing humorously on community-specific intertextuality requiring cultural literacies based on community-specific knowledge. The signs are, thus, not limited to mere instructions for action addressed to a general audience, but are designed for specific groups of addressees thereby showing the socially and spatially fragmented diversity of Berlin’s public sphere.

© 2023 John Benjamins Publishing Company
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2023-07-06
2025-04-30

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/content/journals/10.1075/ps.22010.val
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Pragmatic functions of humor in Berlin’s directive Covid-19 Signs
Pragmatics and Society 14, 236 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22010.val
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.22010.val
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.22010.val
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Berlin; community-building; Covid-19 pandemic; directive signs; humor; multimodality

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