Gossip as indirect mockery in friendly conversation: The social functions of ‘sharing a laugh’ at third parties

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of gossip that is done in a playful key, including laughter as a salient feature, drawing on extracts taken from two naturally occurring conversations among Galician female undergraduate students. The analysis indicates that gossip emerges as a form of indirect mockery in the data, which are commonly based on dramatized reported speech of the 'victim', including parodic stylization devices that are orientated to elicit laughter by making fun or through ridicule. The evaluation component also reveals important differences in relation to serious gossip, as it is not necessarily negative and is not always explicitly established or developed. For this reason, this component can be ambiguous in some cases. From a functional perspective, the article emphasizes that sociability and entertainment are not the only functions that playful and humorous gossip can play; at a fundamental level, this discourse practice has other benefits for the participants: as a way of constructing group identity and getting group comfort for a feeling of envy; of increasing self-esteem from the problems of another party; and of degrading other people's success. The common element behind these underlying functions is a comparative competition of the gossipers with the person who is the subject of their talk. Thus, gossip as mockery is not free of maliciousness and competitiveness.

Job-Related and Nonjob-Related Gossips Among Low-Ranked Employees in Unionized Service Organization

“…Gossip is "the practice of producing, hearing or participating in evaluative comments about someone" (Foster, 2004). At the workplace, gossip is usually seen as informative or entertaining (Ferreira, 2014), but this fun and enjoyment cannot be free of evil. It could hamper peace and organizational justice due to its destructive nature and negativity.…”

The Discursive Construction of Group Cohesion in Problem-based Learning Tutorials

“…At line 19, Jackie impersonates Susannah by pulling her hair back -presumably in a similar fashion to the image -and uttering, "oh no make up", before laughing. Ferreira (2014) suggests that such acts -dramatizing reported speech of the target -elicit laughter through making fun or ridiculing.…”

‘Rachel's not here’: Constructed dialogue in gossip

“…Baumeister, Zang and Vohs ), or as a means to entertain and amuse people, such as humorous gossip (e.g. Dunbar ; Ferreira ), or as a resource to bring groups together and to establish friendship and social norms for behavior and group memberships (e.g. Ferreira ; Fine and Rosnow ; Foster ; Michelson and Mouly ).…”

“…Dunbar ; Ferreira ), or as a resource to bring groups together and to establish friendship and social norms for behavior and group memberships (e.g. Ferreira ; Fine and Rosnow ; Foster ; Michelson and Mouly ). Fine and Rosnow (), for instance, view gossip as purposeful communication, which serves multiple social functions including gathering and spreading information, entertaining, and influencing group membership.…”

“…However, beyond a brief mention, most authors have not focused on this particular feature of gossip in terms of its specific functions in situated interaction. Yet there are a few exceptions, including Ferreira (), who observed that reported speech, in some instances, serves to mock or ridicule the absent party, and Jaworski and Coupland (), who illustrated that reported speech can serve as a substantiating behavior move. They further noted that a speaker engaging in gossip can move between more and less obviously marked forms of voicing: in the former, the speaker clearly ‘performs’ the voice of another, whereas in the latter, there is less of a perceptible shift in pitch and volume from the speaker's normal tone of voice.…”