Comical hypothetical: arguing for a conversational phenomenon

Winchatz, Michaela R.; Kozin, Alexander

doi:10.1177/1461445608089917

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…In addition to these five semantic mechanisms and in line with findings of a previous study on spontaneous humor processing (Winchatz and Kozin 2008;Feyaerts 2013), we also expected three conceptual dimensions to be involved in an interpretational shift to a humorous meaning: different world of experience, fantasy and fiction, narrative change of perspective. Whereas the first two pertain to the creation of an incongruous interpreting experience as one of the preconditions, which are often required to generate a humorous meaning, the change of narrative perspective as apparent in switching from an objective description to a subjective first-person narrative, already by itself activates an additional layer of meaning.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Humor creation during efforts to find humorous cognitive reappraisals of threatening situations

et al. 2019

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This interdisciplinary study examined the structure of humor creation in the specific context of efforts to positively reappraise stressful situations for effective coping. In a sample of n = 101 participants, a performance test was used to assess the quantity (fluency, number of generated ideas that qualified as humor) and quality (rated funniness) of humor creation in cognitive reappraisal. Linguistic mechanisms were identified and quantified using cognitive-linguistic methods of corpus analysis, and their employment was correlated with humor production performance on the level of the individual. Almost all individuals were able to come up with reappraisal ideas that qualified as humorous. Depressive symptoms, a negative mood state, and high perceptions of threat did not compromise the participants' capability to create humor. Individuals who were more serious-minded as a trait produced ideas that were rated as less funny, but their basic ability to create humor was unaffected. Metonymy (a contiguity-based principle of meaning extension) emerged as by far the most prominent semantic mechanism in the creation of humorous re-interpretations. Furthermore, its use was related to good humor creation performance in terms of quantity and quality, which is in line with its assumed importance in the extension of meaning in general and the creation of humor in particular. Further effective linguistic mechanisms and conceptual phenomena were identified. The empirical data may be valuable for the development of interventions involving the creation of humorous ideas for cognitive reappraisal.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Humor creation during efforts to find humorous cognitive reappraisals of threatening situations

et al. 2019

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“…Neither participant engaged in language play based on phonology or grammar, which may be unsurprising as Shardakova () found this only at the advanced level of proficiency. Specific types of humor also remained rare or absent, such as prescripted jokes, irony, or comical hypotheticals (Winchatz & Kozen, ). Despite our rich data, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which these absences are due to developmental, social, cognitive, or other individual factors, such as personality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicompetence in L2 Language Play: A Longitudinal Case Study

2013

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Humor and language play have been recognized as important aspects of second language (L2) development. Qualitative studies that have documented the forms and functions of language play for adult and child L2 users have taken place largely in classroom settings. In order to gain a fuller understanding of such creative manipulations by L2 users, it is necessary to examine these phenomena across a variety of contexts. In this article, we explore the ways that two L2 users marshal resources to play with language across communicative activities, for various purposes, and with a variety of interlocutors in interaction. Our goal is to gain a fuller view of our participants as multicompetent language users, specifically with respect to their playful communicative repertoires. The data consist of informal conversations which were recorded approximately every 2 weeks over 10–12 months. Episodes framed by the participants as playful were identified across all recordings and were analyzed qualitatively to document patterns of use and participation. Despite individual differences in style, both participants demonstrated sensitivity to context in their use of language play and an awareness of the ways humor functions as a social practice, subtly adjusting their strategies to changing social situations.

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“…As descriptions of spontaneous conversational humor become available, these can be used for pedagogical purposes. For instance, a rare example of such an account is found in Winchatz and Kozin's (2008) description of what they refer to as the comical hypothetical in which an amusing imaginary scenario is co-constructed (this has also been referred to as joint fictionalization [Kotthoff, 1999] or fantasy sequences [Hay, 2001]). This research provides specific information that might be used for instructional purposes, for example, showing that such sequences are often introduced with, ''Imagine .…”

Section: Forms Of Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

Humor Scholarship and TESOL: Applying Findings and Establishing a Research Agenda

Bell¹

2011

TESOL Quarterly

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Research in the areas of second language (L2) pragmatics and of conversational humor has increased in recent decades, resulting in a strong base of knowledge from which applied linguists can draw information for teaching purposes and undertake future research. Yet, whereas empirical findings in L2 pragmatics are beginning to find their way into textbooks, recommendations and activities, intended to integrate humor into the L2 classroom with the goal of increasing learners' proficiency in the use and understanding of L2 humor, remain based on intuition alone. Despite parallel developments in L2 pragmatics and humor studies, the two areas of scholarship have largely ignored each other, with humor scholars focusing mainly on native language uses of humor, and applied linguists avoiding the study of humor by L2 users. The purpose of this article is to bring these two fields together by outlining some major linguistic and sociolinguistic findings of humor scholarship, discussing how these understandings might help us integrate humor into the L2 classroom in a principled manner, and suggesting directions for future research on humor and L2 learners.

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Comical hypothetical: arguing for a conversational phenomenon

Cited by 21 publications

References 35 publications

Humor creation during efforts to find humorous cognitive reappraisals of threatening situations

Humor creation during efforts to find humorous cognitive reappraisals of threatening situations

Multicompetence in L2 Language Play: A Longitudinal Case Study

Humor Scholarship and TESOL: Applying Findings and Establishing a Research Agenda

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