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2018
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(2018): Styles of humor and social skills in students. Gender differences. In: Current Psychology 14 (2). DOI: 10.1007/s12144-017-9770-x
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9770-x Abstract: Styles of humor and social skills could significantly determine a person’s functioning. This study aimed to analyze whether styles of humor and social skills correlate, and also the relation that links these variables according to gender. We employed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and the Social Skills Scale (EHS, in Spanish) to assess 643 participants. The results showed that males used styles of humor (Affiliative, Self-enhancing, Aggressive and Self-defeating) more than females. We found gender differences for social skills only in the factors Expression of disapproval (higher scores for females) and Say no and interrupt interactions (higher scores for males). The data indicate correlations among the factors styles of humor and social skills, but not in them all. When we formed groups that allowed the classification of participants according to styles of humor and social skills, females showed a more even distribution, while three of every four males obtained h igh leve ls for styles of humor (except for Self-defeating humor) and social skills (except for Making requests). The model created with styles of humor and social skills indicated an optimum fit: χ2(25) = 56.921 p < 0.001; χ2/gl =2.27; CFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.044, 95%CI (0.029–0.060), with minor gender differences in the relation between styles of humor and social skills. In conclusion, this research shows how males scored higher than females for all four humor styles and dimensions, and not only for negative humor styles as in previous research works. We found that gender differences for social skills revealed only two factors, which may be related to the use of negative humor styles (Expression of disapproval and Say no and interrupt interactions). Finally, one in every three males and two in every three females had problems in some, or several, sections to manage styles of humor and social skills. Hence we should work on this matter in classrooms. Furthe r resear ch on the interpersonal context of humor and the role of gender in humor styles and social skills is warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2018): Lingvo-Sociocultural Specific Of Talk Show Translation As A Tv Discourse Genre
Abstract: ABSTRACT The article is devoted to the linguistic and sociocultural features of the talkshow translationas a television discourse genre. The results of the research in the sphere of mass-media discourse represent a big value for understanding of different field correlation such as media and culture, sociocultural reality and its representation in media. It also has a big value for detecting of mass-media texts complicated semantic structure and different aspects of linguistic personality communicative behavior. The object of the study is television discourse as a linguistic and sociocultural phenomenon. The subjects of the study are linguistic and stylistic, linguistic and pragmatic, linguistic and sociocultural means that detect talk-show as a genre of TV discourse, realized in the situation of interpersonal communication, complicated by the mass communication conditions and institutional status of a TV presenter, who’s main aim is to affect the TV audience. One of the un explored and quite popular genres of television discourse is the talk show genre. In America the linguistic communication in the talk show genre is focused on the personality expression. The key concepts of such linguistic culture are self (self-presentation, self-made man), "challenge", "success" (only the best, geniuses). Thematic preferences and basic concepts of American linguistic culture are among the universal extralinguistic features of the talk show genre that takes in to account the national and cultural specifics of the communication in the American TV show.
2017
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(2017): Risky business. When humor increases and decreases status. In: Journal of personality and social psychology 112 (3), S. 431-455. DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000079
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27831701 Abstract: Across 8 experiments, we demonstrate that humor can influence status, but attempting to use humor is risky. The successful use of humor can increase status in both new and existing relationships, but unsuccessful humor attempts (e.g., inappropriate jokes) can harm status. The relationship between the successful use of humor and status is mediated by perceptions of confidence and competence. The successful use of humor signals confidence and competence, which in turn increases the joke teller's status. Interestingly, telling both appropriate and inappropriate jokes, regardless of the outcome, signals confidence. Although signaling confidence typically increases status and power, telling inappropriate jokes signals low competence and the combined effect of high confidence and low competence harms status. Rather than conceptualizing humor as a frivolous or ancillary behavior, we argue that humor plays a fundamental role in shaping interpersonal perceptions and hierarchies within groups.
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(2017) : (Im)politeness and Mixed Messages In: Culpeper, Jonathan; Haugh, Michael; Kádár, Dániel Z. (Hg.): The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness: London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, S. 323-355
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_13 Abstract: This chapter maps out the space occupied by phenomena that do not belong to either politeness or impoliteness, but in some sense fit both. It focuses on mixed or mismatching interpersonal messages that are incongruous on at least one level of interpretation or generate a sense of interpretive or evaluative dissonance. They encompass phenomena that typically attract labels such as sarcasm, banter and teasing. The authors discuss the pragmatic background of such mixed messages, especially drawing on approaches to irony, how they figure in classic politeness theories, and, in particular, how they work. This part of the chapter considers their metapragmatics, the constituents of the ‘mix’ of messages, how particular ‘mixes’ become conventionalised, their functions and also how they are perceived.
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(2017): Expectations and provocations. In: Qualitative Research Journal 17 (4), S. 265-282. DOI: 10.1108/QRJ-08-2016-0054
Abstract: Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to address participants' humorous provocations as a part of informal interactions between participants and researcher that can be treated just like the research data. By means of autoethnographic analysis, the author explores the expectations of the researcher and participants that humour research entails and discusses how different expectations are revealed in participants' provocations. Design/methodology/approach-This paper uses an autoethnographic approach to discuss the informal interactions between participants and the researcher gathered during research into staffroom humour. The informal interactions in general and humour specifically were recorded, analysed, coded, interpreted and theorised just like the data on humour between participants. The theoretical framework used in the study combines Goffman's (1959) version of symbolic interactionism and Solomon et al. (2006) idea of hybrid spaces. Findings-The study shows the need for reconsideration of expectations entangled in humour research and proposes to be prepared for unexpected. Expecting unexpected can help stay open minded in the field and in interactions with participants and apply healthy distance towards own research and own expectations. The study shows that whenever certain behaviour was expected and different behaviour was delivered, there was a chance for certain behaviour being interpreted as provocations. Participants' provocations can result from their own expectations about the research or what they think is expected from them by the researcher and thus they remain subject to different interpretations. Research limitations/implications-Further research could investigate and discuss the role of humour in participant-researcher interactions in different research contexts and across different methodologies. Combining and analysing experiences of use of humour from both participants and researchers could allow for creating the guidelines in the use of humour in different research situations. Ethical challenges posed by informal interactions between researcher and participants could be explored further and suggestions as to how to protect the researcher, research and participants in such interactions could be developed. Originality/value-This paper aims to be a starting point for a discussion about the understudied relationship between expectations humour research is entangled with and participants' provocations. The study shows innovative approach to informal interactions between participants' and researcher which are treated as research data and are theorised using original combination of symbolic interactionism and hybrid spaces. The study contributes to the qualitative research methodology by discussing the ethics of both using humour with participants and recording and analysing informal humorous interactions between participants and the researcher.
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(2017): Punches or punchlines?. Honor, face, and dignity cultures encourage different reactions to provocation. In: Humor 30 (3). DOI: 10.1515/humor-2016-0087
Abstract: Research on culture-related violence has typically focused on honor cultures and their justification of certain forms of aggression as reactions to provocation. In contrast, amusement and humor as the preferred reactions to provocation remain understudied phenomena, especially in a cross-cultural context. In an attempt to remedy this, participants from an honor culture (Poland), dignity culture (Canada), and face culture (China) were asked how they would react and how they would like to react to a series of provocative scenarios. Results confirmed that aggression may be the preferred reaction to provocation in honor cultures, while the preferred reaction to provocation in dignity cultures may be based on humor and amusement. The third kind of provocation reaction, withdrawal, turned out to be more complex but was most popular in dignity and face cultures. Furthermore, results confirmed that the way individuals think they would behave is more culturally diversified than the way individuals would like to behave. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) zitiert von 1
2015
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(2015): Verecundia, risa y decoro. Cicerón y el arte de insultar. In: Isegoría (53), S. 445-473. DOI: 10.3989/isegoria.2015.053.01
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2015.053.01 Abstract: Sobre la risa puede hablarse de muchas maneras; cabe, por ejemplo, una aproximación fisiológica, otra psicológica o una tercera sociológica, que los antiguos no desatendieron por completo, si bien Cicerón prefirió investigar sus posibilidades retóricas. A nadie se le oculta la relevancia de chanzas y chistes para disponer a la audiencia de manera favorable o para ridiculizar al adversario; tampoco que esta estrategia, a despecho de su efectividad y por la misma, puede sobrepasar los límites de lo aceptable o de lo provechoso. Cuestión tanto más grave cuanto que el orador puede y debe reírse de asuntos que, considerados en sí mismos, carecen de gracia. La retórica ciceroniana de la risa plantea y desemboca en una ética y una táctica del humor atenta al estudio y posible codificación de los principios rectores de tan poderoso recurso, que debe utilizarse de manera conveniente, adecuada y decorosa (pues de todas estas formas puede traducirse la palabra griega prépon y la latina decorum), lo cual presupone que no siempre es así y, por lo que interesa en estas páginas, que hay risas indebidas, próximas al vituperio, que pueden acarrear dificultades a quien las provoca, pues siempre es peligroso reírse de los poderosos. Cicerón, sin duda, era un individuo que insultaba mucho, con ingenio, gracia y en ocasiones con extraordinaria agresividad.~~~
2014
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(2014): OCCASIONAL POLITENESS AND GENTLEMEN'S LAUGHTER IN 18th C ENGLAND. In: The Historical Journal 57 (04), S. 921-945. DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X14000302
Abstract: This article considers the intersection between polite manners and company in eighteenth-century England. Through the laughter of gentlemen, it makes a case for a concept of occasional politeness, which is intended to emphasize that polite comportment was only necessary on certain occasions. In particular, it was the level of familiarity shared by a company that determined what was considered appropriate. There was unease with laughter in polite sociability, yet contemporaries understood that polite prudence could be waived when men met together in friendly homosocial encounters. In these circumstances, there existed a tacit acceptance of looser manners that might be called 'intimate bawdiness', which had its origins in a renaissance humanist train of thought that valorized wit as the centrepiece of male sociability. This argument tempers the importance of politeness by stressing the social contexts for which it was - and was not - a guiding principle. Ultimately, it suggests that the category of company might be one way of rethinking eighteenth-century sociability in a more pluralistic fashion, which allows for contradictory practices to co-exist. As such, it moves towards breaking down the binary oppositions of polite and impolite, elite and popular, and theory and practice that have been imposed on the period.
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(2014): Age-related differences in judgments of inappropriate behavior are related to humor style preferences. In: Psychology and Aging 29 (3), S. 528-541. DOI: 10.1037/a0036666
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25244473 Abstract: Identifying social gaffes is important for maintaining relationships. Older adults are less able than young to discriminate between socially appropriate and inappropriate behavior in video clips. One open question is how these social appropriateness ratings relate to potential age differences in the perception of what is actually funny or not. In the present study, young, middle-aged, and older adults were equally able to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate social behavior in a diverse set of clips relevant across age groups. However, young and middle-aged adults rated the gaffe clips as funnier than control clips and young adults smiled more during the inappropriate clips than the control clips. Older adults did not show this pattern, suggesting that they did not find the inappropriate clips funny. Additionally, young adults endorsed a more aggressive humor style than middle-aged and older adults and aggressive humor style endorsement mediated age differences in social appropriateness ratings. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms such as cohort differences in humor and developmental prioritization of certain humor styles, as well as the importance of investigating age differences in both abilities and preferences.
2012
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(2012): The self-promoting playful pen in graphic and literary rhino-caricatures. In: HUMOR-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMOR RESEARCH 25 (2), S. 179-198
Abstract: From ancient times to the present, artists’ and authors’ creative, critical, and diverting pens have caricatured the human nose. Their amusing games express the power of the artistic imagination to turn their subjects into game pieces by (1) poking fun at their sociopolitical status through exaggerating or diminishing the size and shape of their noses; (2) playing upon hilarious, multifaceted links between their noses, phalluses, and the mocking pen; and (3) building canonical play frames that expand the artists’ and authors’ ability to mock the sociopolitical competition for power and influence. Though these games at times transgress the boundaries of decorum, they also underscore graphic and verbal caricaturists’ self-promotional creativity, as they address the many inequalities in actual and fictive worlds.
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(2012): Humor use in power-differentiated interactions. In: Humor 25 (4), S. 1613-3722. DOI: 10.1515/humor-2012-0025
Abstract: Humor serves a variety of functions in interpersonal communication, including the release of tension and the diffusion of conflict. Based on Dyadic Power Theory (Dunbar 2004; Dunbar and Abra 2010), it is predicted that interactants of equal power will use more humor and different types of humor than those either relatively high or low in power as compared to their partners. The present study analyzed experimentally manipulated problem-solving interactions between research participants (N = 150) and confederate strangers. Participants used a mean of 8 humorous statements in interactions that lasted for a mean of 15 minutes. The results revealed that power did not influence the amount of humor used overall but those who were equal in power used more tension-releasing humor than those unequal in power. Additionally, those with equal power or high power positions were more likely to use humor to disparage the task or laugh along with their partner than those low in power. Humor use did not affect the participants' satisfaction with the interaction, but those who laughed along with their partner exerted more influence over the outcome of the problem-solving task. Although not hypothesized, some sex differences in types of humor use also emerged.
2011
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(2011) : Etiquette In Motivational Agents: Engaging Users And Developing Relationships In: Hayes, Caroline C.; Miller, Christopher Allan (Hg.): Human-computer etiquette: Cultural expectations and the design implications they place on computers and technology: Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, S. 205-230
Abstract: Micro-analysis of face-to-face interaction among humans can tell us a great deal about how to design etiquette into our human-machine interfaces in order to make them more intuitive, robust, and easy to use. Human protocols for conversational turn-taking, indicating understanding, marking emphasis, and displaying presumed relationship status, are but a few of the myriad verbal and nonverbal cues that can be observed in face-to-face interaction and incorporated into our systems. However, one of the most interesting-and challenging aspects of human interaction for both analysis and emulation is that the “rules of engagement”—that is, etiquette-expectations change frequently and ªuidly during a single encounter. A person must know if their interlocutor is engaging in serious talk, social chat, play, storytelling, or joke-telling to know how to interpret their behavior and to respond appropriately. In addition, these rules can also slowly evolve as a pair of interlocutors develops a relationship over time. is chapter will discuss these phenomena in human social interactions and their rami¤cations for developing human-like machine interfaces such as the animated health counselor shown in Figure 9.1. is work focuses on a particular type of application as a motivating example-the use of computerized animated counselors for long-term health behavior change interventions-and why at least some of the interaction styles that are e¢ective in this domain comprise rules of etiquette that would not be considered “nice” by Emily Post.
Keywords: Agent, Antworten im Rahmen einer Konversation, Art der Beziehung zum Interaktionspartner, Betonung, doppelter Treffer, Ernsthaftigkeit einer Situation, Erzählweise, Etikette, Etiquette as rules of expectation, Favoriten, Für spezifische Situationen festgelegte Verhaltensregeln, humor, Konversationskonventionen als Etikette-Erwartungen, Korrespondenz, Mensch oder Maschine, Mensch-Technik-Interaktion, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Mensch-Technische Systeme, Modelle, narrative, Plauderei, Prosody, Realtechnik, Signalisieren von Verstehen, Situationsbedingter Kontext, Sozial Intelligente Agenten, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Distanz, Soziale Robotik, Soziosensitive Systeme, Spiel, Sprachgebrauch, Sprechmelodie, Technik, Theorien, Turn-taking innerhalb der Konsersation, User, Volltreffer, Witze 2009
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(2009): Humor theory and the fear of being laughed at. In: Humor - International Journal of Humor Research 22 (1-2). DOI: 10.1515/HUMR.2009.003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMR.2009.003 Abstract: Systematic empirical research into the extent to which individuals in different societies fear being laughed at is new and has implications for humor theory. Humor theorists such as Hobbes and Bergson implicitly assume that such fears were generally at a high level and both Hobbes' superiority theory of laughter and Bergson's view of it as a social corrective depend on this assumption. They purport to be general theories but are in fact the product of the particular societies in which those philosophers' lived and whose mores they took for granted. However, we can use their work to generate hypotheses that can in the future be tested against the comparative empirical data now being produced. In particular we should pay attention is the social variables of shame, face, etiquette and embarrassment on the one hand, and hierarchy, status divisions and power on the other, as probably having explanatory power. aus psycINFO 2009-05381-003 accession number
Keywords: Bergson, embarrassment, Etiquette, FEAR, Hobbes, humor, humor theory, laughter, POWER, Shame, status division, Umgangsformen -
(2009): The Function of Decorum at the Present Time. Manners, Moral Language, and Modernity in ’an Oscar Wilde Play’. In: MODERN DRAMA 52 (2), S. 145-167
Abstract: In the distinctive, epigrammatic idiom of his society comedies, where dialogue is shaped by the formulae of conventional instructional maxims about what one should and shouldn't do, Oscar Wilde inverts and aestheticizes the assumed ethical basis of a code of conduct that relies on the language of decorum. His drama suggestively articulates a considerable degree of slippage between manners, on the one hand, and morals, on the other. This essay argues, in fact, that Wildean aphoristic speech playfully rewrites late-Victorian etiquette literature, exploiting the ironic distance between moral assumptions and a more formulaic reality.
Keywords: Beispiel, Code of conduct, decorum, humor, Kunst, Literaturwissenschaft, manners, Moral, Morals, Oscar Wilde, Regelwerke, Werte -
(2009): Humour and Insult in the House of Commons. The Case of Palmerston and Disraeli. In: PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY 28 (2), S. 228-245
Abstract: Formal prohibitions on ‘personalities’ notwithstanding, a constant of parliamentary life is that members regularly insult one another. Within the conventions of 19th-century public decorum, humour served as an effective means for some politicians to deliver personal insults to their opponents.This article examines the nature of the personal attacks made by Disraeli and Palmerston on each other between 1837 and 1865, and describes how their styles of humorous insult were different but equally effective. Analysis of their political contest sheds new light on the careers of the two men, while also providing the basis for broader considerations about the changing nature and functions of humour in political discourse from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
Keywords: Beispiel, beleidigen, Beleidigung, decorum, fluchen, Geschichte, humor, Politik, Sprache, Wandel von Normen 2008
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(2008): ROBOT MANZAI. ROBOT CONVERSATION AS A PASSIVE–SOCIAL MEDIUM. In: International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 05 (01), S. 67-86. DOI: 10.1142/S0219843608001315
Abstract: This paper reports on the development of a multirobot cooperation system for human robot communication in which robots behave as if communicating by speech, while the system exchanges information through a network that maintains natural communication timing. The information exchanged through the network is based on the analysis of interhuman conversation. This system is based on a scripting language for coordinating multirobot communication, which has a merit for developers: easy development. The developed system is used for Manzai, which is a kind of a Japanese stand-up comedy mainly performed by two persons. While tempo and timing are particularly important in Manzai, the developed "robot Manzai" system received higher evaluations than the Manzai shown in a video performed by humans. We believe that this system demonstrates the potential of robots as a passive-social medium, including television and computers.
2007
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(2007): The Rating of Sexist Humor Under Time Pressure as an Indicator of Spontaneous Sexist Attitudes. In: Sex Roles 57 (9-10), S. 651-660. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-007-9302-5
Abstract: Spontaneous vs. more controlled indicators of sexist attitudes were assessed in a laboratory experiment with 131 male German undergraduates. Participants rated the funniness of sexist and nonsexist jokes either with or without time pressure, and completed self-report measures of sexism and related constructs. With time pressure, participants showed greater liking for sexist jokes than without. No such effect was found for nonsexist jokes. Both with and without time pressure, sexist joke ratings showed meaningful correlations with standard self-report measures, which attests to the joke measure's high reliability and construct validity. Directions for future research are discussed. zitiert von 32
Keywords: Einzelstudie / spezifisch, Human Males, humor, Jokes, PREJUDICE, Sex Role Attitudes, Sexism -
(2007): Judges’ use of humor as a social corrective. In: Journal of Pragmatics 39 (1), S. 50-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.07.001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.07.001 Abstract: Although judging is serious business, the occasional humorous opinion is a longstanding tradition among both British and American judges. In the United States, humorous judicial opinions are frequently used by newspapers as filler articles, and numerous collections appear in books and on Internet websites, to the apparent delight of popular and professional audiences alike. However, despite a widespread absence of public disapprobation, some commentators have criticized judicial humor as inappropriate, arguing that a judge's role is not to entertain, and that an opinion that ridicules a litigant or his case violates standards of judicial decorum and impartiality. This article challenges the view that a judge's use of humor is necessarily injudicious, and argues that judges use humor as a social corrective to sanction wrongdoers and to deter others from engaging in similar conduct. Through an analysis of actual judicial opinions, I demonstrate how this is achieved.
Keywords: decorum, entscheiden, humor, Judicial opinions, Medien, Rechtswissenschaft, science direct, Social corrective -
(2007): Being (im)polite in New Zealand workplaces. Māori and Pākehā leaders. In: Journal of Pragmatics 39 (4), S. 712-729. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.11.016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.11.016 Abstract: This paper investigates the ways in which leaders in ethnically diverse workplaces in New Zealand construct themselves as effective leaders in interaction with subordinates, whilst also taking account of the politeness norms of their specific workplaces. Case studies of two leaders, one from a Pākehā and one from a Māori workplace, illustrate that shared ethnic values and attitudes impact on the behaviour of all members of the leaders’ communities of practice. The analysis of meeting openings and the use of contestive humour demonstrate that what is considered appropriate behaviour in one organisational context, and what is perceived as constituting polite behaviour by group members, may be considered inappropriate and even impolite by members of another organisation. By behaving in ways that are in accordance with the norms developed in their ‘ethnicised’ communities of practice, leaders and other organisational members reinforce, maintain and shape these politeness norms.
2005
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(2005): Joking cultures. Humor themes as social regulation in group life. In: HUMOR-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMOR RESEARCH 18 (1), S. 1-22. DOI: 10.1515/humr.2005.18.1.1
Abstract: Every interacting social group develops, over time, a joking culture: a set Of humorous references that are known to members of the group to which members can refer and that serve as the basis of further interaction. Joking, thus, has a historical, retrospective, and reflexive character. We argue that group joking is embedded, interactive, and referential, and these features give it power within the group context. Elements of the joking culture serve to smooth group interaction, share affiliation, separate the group from outsiders, and secure the compliance of group members through social control. To demonstrate these processes we rely upon two detailed ethnographic examples of continuing joking: one from mushroom collectors and the second from professional meteorologists.
2003
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(2003): Extended hierarchical task network planning for interactive comedy. In: INTELLIGENT AGENTS AND MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS (2891), S. 205-213
Abstract: We focus on interactive comedy, a relatively new genre in interactive drama, in this study. To be able to maintain the story, we adopt hierarchical task network planning (HTN) for planning of a character agent. We then extend HTN such that the extended HTN allows for the direct use of character failures, higher interactions with the viewer, and more story variations. Our extensions lead to effective extraction of laughter from the viewer. We test our system with a short visual comedy similar to the popular Mr. Bean(TM) series.
2001
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(2001): Arbitria-Vrbanitatis. Language, style, and characterization in Catullus ’cc.39 and 37’. In: CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY 20 (2), S. 239-272
Abstract: This article describes how cc. 39 and 37 create distinct tones of voice and use them to preclude the social pretensions of Egnatius in different spheres. The style of c. 39, markedly oratorical—and non-Catullan—in the syntax of its opening lines, develops into the voice of a respectable senex by way of archaisms of vocabulary and syntax and is capped by a figure of humor otherwise absent from the polymetrics, the apologus. The style thus creates a voice perfectly suited to chastise Egnatius' social ineptitudes and, more importantly, constitutes on the verbal level an embodiment of the standards of the urban elite. Catullus thus illustrates to Egnatius that a subtle system of social gestures can be learned - something which Egnatius, for all his apparent pretensions to social prominence, manifestly has not grasped, marred as he is by the habit of grinning inappropriately. C. 37, which ends with an attack on the same Egnatius, is far different in tone, commingling tokens of artfulness with vulgarity and forcefulness. That mixed style exercises ironic decorum towards Lesbia's lovers, who are themselves an oddly mixed group, well-off on the one hand, but "backstreet adulterers" on the other. But the two tones of voice, and indeed the two groups of lovers, also embody the paradoxes of the Roman construction of stylish behavior, which could be represented as elegant dalliance or reprehensible vice. Inasmuch as Egnatius' fashion affectations, ridiculed at the poem's end, fail to qualify him for the ranks of Lesbia's lovers, he is represented as outside sophisticated society, however it be constructed. In concert the two poems utterly derail Egnatius' social pretensions: c. 39 as it were outflanks him on the "right," barring him from respectable society, and c. 37 outflanks him on the "left," barring him from the "jet set."
2000
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(2000): Politeness, Power and Provocation. How Humour Functions in the Workplace. In: Discourse Studies 2 (2), S. 159-185. DOI: 10.1177/1461445600002002002
Abstract: This article examines verbal humour in routine interactions within professional workplaces, using material recorded in four New Zealand government departments. The problem of defining humour is discussed, followed by a brief outline of the theoretical models which underpin the analysis of the various functions which humour serves in professional organizations. Humour can express positive affect in interaction. It can also facilitate or `licence' more negative interpersonal communicative intent. While politeness theory can account for the former, as a means of expressing collegiality at work, or de-emphasizing power imbalances, in its standard form politeness theory does not explain barbed, competitive or confrontational humour. For this it is necessary to look to `the dark side of politeness' (Austin, 1990). An alternative perspective thus examines the extent to which humour functions, especially in unequal encounters, as an acceptable strategy to help superiors maintain a position of power but also as a strategy used by subordinates to licence challenges to the power structures within which they operate, and as a legitimizing strategy in attempts at subverting the repressive or coercive discourse of superiors.
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