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"English language Semantics Humor."
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It's been said before : a guide to the use and abuse of clichés
\"This book provides a concise and lively guide to the most abused phrases in the English language today\"-- Provided by publisher.
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Do bilinguals get the joke? Humor comprehension in mono- and bilinguals
Understanding jokes may differ between mono- and bilinguals because of differences in lexical access; fluency and sense of humor may also be relevant. Three experiments examined English-language joke comprehension in monolingual (n = 91) and bilingual (n = 111) undergraduates, Russian–English bilinguals (n = 39), and MTurk monolinguals (n = 77). Participants rated jokes and non-jokes in English as funny or not funny. We assessed the effects of bilingualism, language dominance, fluency, sense of humor, experience, and motivation on response time (RT) and sensitivity (d′) in identifying jokes. Bilingualism predicted neither RT nor d′ in mono- and English-dominant bilingual undergraduates; English fluency predicted d′. Russians were slower than English-dominant bilinguals but were more not less sensitive to humor. MTurk monolinguals were faster than undergraduates and equally sensitive; sense of humor predicted sensitivity. Overall, humor processing is alternately affected by fluency, sense of humor, and motivation, depending on the population. Bilingualism per se is not a factor.
Journal Article
Exploring the Multilingual Applications of ChatGPT: Uncovering Language Learning Affordances in YouTuber Videos
ChatGPT's ability to realistically mimic human conversation and its high level of ability to handle linguistic ambiguity opens new and exciting avenues in language learning. Building upon the technical affordances of ChatGPT, this study explores the perceptions of educational affordances when incorporating ChatGPT across languages discussed by language communities on YouTube and identifies best practices for its effective use in language education. Through inductive content analysis, this study discussed 18 languages categorized into four groups: (1) romanized languages with high resources, (2) non-romanized languages with high resources, (3) languages with medium resources, and (4) less frequently used languages. The findings reveal consensus that (a) ChatGPT is a valuable and remarkable tool for language teaching and, (b) learning and it cannot fully replace teachers, as humor, wit, and sympathy cannot be programmed. Two potentially significant issues or two gaps were identified and discussed: namely, the learning optimization gap and the knowledge comprehension gap.
Journal Article
Anglicizing Humor in a Spanish Satirical TV Show—Pragmatic Functions and Discourse Strategies
Humor is a pragmatic and interdisciplinary phenomenon whose sociocultural relevance has been increasingly recognized by the Academia. Surprisingly, although the anthropo-philosophical theory of homo risu emerged in the 7th century, linguists became interested in the study of the linguistic mechanisms of humor only a few years ago. One of those mechanisms is the use of Anglicisms, because of their pragmatic potential to provide some added value, a halo of prestige and modernity, which creates playful effects of complicity. This paper examines the way Anglicisms crucially contribute to the humorous discourse of the satirical news show El Intermedio, the longest-running program on a Spanish private TV channel. Monitoring of 300 episodes broadcast between April 2022 and December 2024 proves how, in addition to puns and irony, scriptwriters tend to resort to a number of strategies involving the creative use of Anglicisms, which perform different pragmatic functions, while showing sociolinguistic awareness. They also offer an up-to-date sample of the great vitality of Anglicisms in contemporary Spain.
Journal Article
Exploring wordplay and humour in English usage within Japanese texts
English has been extensively integrated into various commercial contexts in Japan, infiltrating brand names, clothing, products, packaging (Dougill, 2008), shop signs (Backhaus, 2006; Inoue, 2005; MacGregor, 2003a), advertising copy (Seargeant, 2011; Takashi, 1990a, 1990b), television commercials (MacGregor, 2003b; Stanlaw, 1992), television programs (Jinnouchi, 2007), and Japanese popular music (Moody, 2001; Moody, 2006; Pennycook, 2003; Stanlaw, 2021). Scholars attribute this phenomenon to English's attention-catching effects (Bhatia, 2009) and its ability to stand out amidst predominantly Japanese scripts (Takashi, 1990b). While some argue that English is primarily used for decorative purposes, conveying positive imagery without necessarily prioritising communication (Dougill, 2008; Haarmann, 1989; Seaton, 2001), others contend that marketers capitalise on the public's superficial knowledge of basic English to achieve both decorative and communicative goals (Daulton, 2008). Previous studies have focused on English-based loanwords in the Japanese language system, overlooking the creative use of English wordplay in Japanese advertising texts (Inagawa, 2015; Scherling, 2016). This study aims to fill this gap by examining five instances of English wordplay in Japanese commercial texts that go beyond basic usage.
Journal Article
A cross-sectional analysis of teacher-initiated verbal humor and ludic language play in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context
Although research on second language (L2) humor and language play is burgeoning, most previous studies have addressed language learners. Thus, L2 teachers in general and EFL teachers in particular have comparatively received much less attention in the literature. The present research, to my knowledge, is the first study in the Iranian context and one of the few studies in an (Asian) EFL setting that examines both qualitatively and quantitatively teacher-initiated verbal humor and ludic language play across proficiencies. In this study, within an ethnographic research design, the video-recorded talk-in-interaction of 12 Iranian EFL teachers were scrutinized to discern how they employed linguistic devices to create humorous language play in various forms and for different purposes. Additionally, the teacher participants' self-reports of humor use as individuals and their follow-up interview responses were taken into account in further analysis and discussion of the findings. Among other things, it was found that learners' L2 proficiency could contribute to the extent and type of teacher humor. Moreover, such humor might be employed (and \"extended\") to pursue (pro)social, affective and/or managerial objectives. In this paper, considering the participants' attitudes and concerns regarding humor use, suggestions for successful implementation of teacher humor were also put forward.
Journal Article
Humor and Language Errors in Arabic-English Informative Discourse
In everyday life, there are often errors in foreign language translation, either in spelling or vocabulary or in pragmatic terms. Frequently, these errors are unintentionally amusing. This research discusses humor caused by language errors. The corpus of this study is an informative discourse in Arabic and English found in notices in various Arab countries. The data obtained come from several sites. The samples analyzed in this article are memes that contain information about the name of a food at a buffet, the name of the country where a washing machine was manufactured, signs that prohibit parking, signposts, street names, shop names, chicken sales promotions, and salon names. The data are analyzed using theories of linguistics, translation, and humor. From the results of the study it is found that many bilingual informative discourses contain errors in spelling and vocabulary which, in a pragmatic sense, not only cause confusion for readers but also create humor that makes people laugh. The errors listed above are caused not only by the trusted translation tool but also by the informative discourse maker not reviewing the results of the translation.
Journal Article
Linguistic analysis of a humorous dialogic discourse (on the material of German-, English - and Russian everyday joke)
The research shows what features and functions distinguish everyday joke from other types of text. It focuses on the genre of joke and its repetitive, dynamic elements in a descriptive context. The leading research question in this paper is: how can general, typical characteristics be used to analyze the joke text in three languages - German, English and Russian? The research is based on the extensive body of texts from the everyday joke, which is a humorous dialogue discourse. The authors of this study have tried to find new approaches to the analysis of everyday jokes. The research aim is not only to find the right way to define and analyze the joke, but also to introduce various approaches, methods and factors that may be relevant to the linguistic description of this type of text, and to compare the texts of the joke in the three above-mentioned languages. In accordance with the specific tasks, the work uses a comprehensive research methodology based on the application of various research methods: comparative analysis of texts in different languages, definition analysis, contextual analysis of lexical unit values, interpretive semantic analysis of contexts in which linguistically specific words and phrases are used, classification and systematizing techniques. More than 450 jokes in the form of dialogues were selected for the analysis method of continuous sampling of language material.
Journal Article
Stylistic deviation and Pakistani idiom: creative use of English in Moni Mohsin’s Duty Free
The study highlights the creative use of deviation as a stylistic device for presenting linguistic innovations in the novel Duty Free (originally published in 2011) written in English by a Pakistani writer Moni Mohsin. It has been explored how and to what extent the eight types of deviation, such as lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, graphological, dialectal, deviation of register, and deviation of historical period suggested by Geoffrey N. Leech have been employed by Moni Mohsin in her novel. By identifying how morphological, compound, and idiomatic neologisms have been created, words from native languages have been borrowed, and innovative similes, metaphors, and tautologies rooted in Pakistani culture have been employed, the study helps in understanding the extent to which novel uses of English language create unique stylistic effects, add to the richness and vitality of English, and cause variation simultaneously. Deviation of historical period and certain subcategories of phonological deviation have not been found. The study has implications for Pakistani English, lexicology, stylistic foregrounding, and creative writing in English.
Journal Article