How native and non-native English speakers adapt to humor in intercultural interaction

1. How native and non-native English speakersadapttohumor in intercultural interaction Nancy Bell (2008) - Indiana Universityof Pennsylvania Ilaria Liberi – Lingua e traduzione inglese II A

2. Communication requires much more than knowledge of linguistic forms. Contextual factors such as time, place and participants as well as variations in culturally situated background knowledge, all influence the way we speak and understand each other. The occurrence of humor is universal, what is considered funny, as well as when, where, with whom and under what conditions a person may joke, differs cross-culturally, and even between individuals of a shared culture. Humor can often carry an implicit negative message and be potentially dangerous to use; it is culturally and linguistically complex and sophisticated.

3. The construction and comprehension of verbal humor in an L2 constitutes a great challenge to L2 learners, because it often requires sophisticated linguistic, social and cultural competence. Researchers have begun to show an interest in humor and language play as it relates to L2 learning. Harder (1980) believes that verbal humor is difficult for many L2 speakers. He called this the “reduced personality” of the L2 speakers

4. NNs are not put at a disadvantage in cross-cultural communication due to L2 humor. Bell wants to demonstrate how L2 humor is perceived and negotiated. • Methodology • Tape recordings of the interaction of 3 highly advanced females NNSs of English with NSs. The tapes yielded 541 examples of conversational humor: • 204 instances were initiated by a NNS – 337 were initiated by a NS • 2. Interviews in order to obtain details about their background. Bell also explored their views on both L1 and L2 humor.

5. They were working toward degrees at U.S. Universities. All were friendly and outgoing. They had studied English for 10 years. Pumhad an American boyfriend, Tanya had command of a wider variety of vocabulary and syntactic structures.

6. 5 features/strategies Avoidance of taboo or controversial topics NNs and Ns speakers made adjustments in order to avoid potentially controversial types of and topics for humor. 2. Dangerous forms of humor Certain types of humor can have more potential to be interpreted negatively or to cause offense than others. Teases and insults occurred only with intimates

7. Example The Sopranos Pum: you can go like Friday night… oh no… Saturday night Jake: Saturday night?! Pum: ((no you have to see the Soprano)) Jake: that’s Sunday night Pum: oh. Pum is teasing her boyfriend in order to reinforce their new bond.

8. 3. Linguistic and interactional adjustments Both the NSs and NNs in this study consciously adjusted their verbal humor to accommodate the needs of the other. All three girls made an effort to avoid references to things that they perceived might be difficult to the NSs and by avoiding potentially confusing words. Repetition is a strategy used by NSs when they perceived that the NNS had not understood an attempt at humor. The NS humor tended to be constructed around more familiar or more concrete topics, an adjustment that would make humor easier for L2 speakers to understand.

9. Example : Hillbillies Jake: Look at the swamp, it’s a swamp back there. That’s where all the pineys live too. Do you know who the pineys are? Pum: I don’t know Jake: They are like hillbillies HUH Pum: what’s that? Jake: What’s a hillbilly? Pum: I don’t know (serious) no Jake: They drive the pickup trucks, they listen to old LynyrdSkynyrd. They say FreeeeeeeBirrrrd Pum: huhuhuhuh you sick Jake: you don’t know who the hillbilles are… They are like that the backcountry […] They are like backwards uneducated people Pum: mm

10. 4. Contextualization of humor Misunderstandings due to misinterpretations of humor were avoided through the use of contextualization. Prosody is used through explicit statements such as “it was so funny” or “very funny scene”. Nss tended to give strong signals when their utterances were not to be taken seriously Example : I’m just kidding John: is that cool with you? Pum: I think so Cal: huhhhhhhhhhhhhh (stupid voice) Pum: uh uhu huh huhhuhheh John: speak now or for ever hold your peace Cal: I’m just kidding Pum: yeah John: I mean you don’t have to hit every single point, you know.

11. 5. Leniency Meeuwis (1994) suggests that interlocutors exhibit leniency in intercultural communication. Leniency is the most important factor in a successful communication. Using appropriate and comprehensible humor by NSs and NNs suggest that these conversational partecipants interpreted attempts at humor with tolerance and equanimity. They recognized the importance of humor for building relationship and did not want to upset the ambience that it created, either by not understanding a joke or by constructiong one that was unsuccessful.

12. Conclusion Joking did not appear to cause harm to the relationship between the NS and the NNS participants in this study. Humor is viewed as something fun, something extra in conversation. Humor acts as an aid to communication, with both parties using caution in their choice of vocabulary, topics and interpretations. Humor, with its important function of marking in- and out-group identities can be a strong indicator of the status of an L2 speaker.