HOW NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS ADAPT TO HUMO

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HOW NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS ADAPT
TO HUMOR IN INTERCULTURAL INTERACTIONNancy D.
Bell
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Purposes

• to examine social interactions between native and
  non-native speakers of English as far as verbal
  humor is concerned
• to demonstrate that humor does not create
  conflicts

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Communication is based not only on linguistic
competence but also on contextual factors. The
way we speak and understand each other is
influenced by factors such ascultural
background, participants, place, time.
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Non-native speakers syntactic and grammatical
mistakes are due to the learner status, while
misunderstandings of verbal humor are caused by
the meeting of two or more ethnic groups.
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Bells research on humor

• Reports the way in which humor was negotiated by
  three NNSs of English in interaction with ENSs.
• The participants were three young women studying
  at U.S. universities. They came from Venezuela,
  Thailand, Russia. All of them had a high
  proficiency level in English.

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• Was based on audio tapes (32 hours of
  interaction)
• Humor was classified according to the context,
  function and type
• Interviews were made at the beginning of the
  study and at the end of it

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At the beginning of the study difficulties in the
construction and comprehension of humor were
expected but this was not the case.
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Five strategies that avoided misunderstandings,
offence,confusion in intercultural communication
were identified

• Avoidance of taboo topics
• Avoidance of potencially dangerous forms of humor
• Linguistic and interactional adjustments
• Clear contextualization of a play frame
• Attitude of leniency

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Avoidance of taboo topics

• Quips about sex and getting drunk were
  generally not made in order to prevent
  embarassement they occurred only in group
  situations

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Dangerous forms of humor

• Teases were generally directed to people you
  have a close relationship with or they are used
  to strenghten a bond.

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Example

• Pum you can go like Friday
• night
• oh no
• Saturday night
• Jake Saturday night?!
• Pum ((no
• you have to see the
• Soprano))
• Jake thats Sunday night
• Pum oh.

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The use of the modal verb have tocannot be
considered as an offence because Pum is speaking
with her boyfriend.
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Linguistic and interactional adjustments

• Attention to the choice of the topic,
  avoidance of confusing words, repetitions,
  feedback are strategies used to adjust humor to
  the necessities of the others

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Contextualization of humor

• NNSs and NSs use smile and/or laughter and
  explicit statements in order to let the other
  know they are joking.

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Example

• John is that cool with you?
• Pum (slowly) I think so
• Cal HuHHHHHHHHHH (stupid voice)
• Pum uh huh huh huh huh heh heh
• John speak now or forever hold your
  peaHHHHce
• Cal Im just kidding
• Pum yeah!
• John I mean you dont have to hit every
  single point,
• you
• know
• Pum yeah

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• Cals tone of voice indicates that he is making
  fun of her.
• Explicit statement when Cal admits that he is
  teasing her Im just kidding

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Leniency

• From the collected data, it emerged that
  people involved in a conversation seem to be
  tolerant towards their interlocutors. If not
  understood properly a joke could be interpreted
  as an offence. Thus, leniency is an essential
  element in intercultural relations.

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Example
Judith well once she was like I think I was late for work like twenty minutes and she was like where you tall and skinny were you? Im like I just missed the bus and chubby fatty Nancy short Judith right short woman! and she was like insulting me and I just insult her back! Nancy heh heh heh what did she do? Judith she just looked at me like up and down and she went to do something else and I was like dont bother me Im I think I said something like Im taller than you so youd better be careful. and shes shes I think I guess she was laughing And she just went somewhere else or something like that
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Conclusions

• Although we might expect humor to be a source
  of misunderstanding between NSs and NNSs, the
  study reveals that a harmless intercultural
  communcation is possible

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• Thanks for your attention
• Paola Delpero, Giulia Dorigoni, Monica Zanella