Exploring Conceptual Metaphors in American and Egyptian Jokes During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Comparative Study | ||
| Miṣriqiyā | ||
| Article 2, Volume 4, Issue 1, March 2024, Pages 1-59 PDF (729.69 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/misj.2024.288911.1057 | ||
| Author | ||
| Marwa Adel Nasser* | ||
| English Department, Faculty of Women, for Arts Science and Education Ain Shams University - Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This study examines the differences between Egyptian and American jokes about the coronavirus and quarantine time during the 2020 pandemic. It uses the Semantic Script theory and Conceptual Metaphor theory to analyze the conceptual metaphors used in both cultures. The study focuses on the types of metaphors employed, script violations, humor techniques, cultural factors affecting perception, and shared fears and challenges. Moreover, it attempts to answer the following questions; (1) What are the types of conceptual metaphors that are employed in Egyptian and American jokes? and how far do these conceptual metaphors in Egyptian and American jokes reflect cultural differences? (2) What types of script violations are commonly exploited in Egyptian and American jokes to evoke laughter? and how far are the humor techniques used by both Americans and Egyptians in their jokes different or similar? (3) How do cultural factors affect the perception and understanding of jokes in both Egyptian and American societies? (4) How far do both Egyptian and American jokes reflect the same fears and challenges of enduring a pandemic? To conduct this study a corpus of 32 Egyptian and American jokes was collected and, analysed using semantic script theory, conceptual metaphors, cultural references, and wordplay techniques. Findings show that both humor in Egyptian and American jokes arises from the violation of expectations or norms, drawing on different source domains. American humor often uses societal norms and shared experiences, while Egyptian jokes primarily focus on cultural references and social and historical issues. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| American jokes; conceptual metaphor; coronavirus pandemic; comparative study; Egyptian jokes; Semantic-script theory; lockdown jokes; COVID-19 pandemic jokes | ||
| Full Text | ||
|
Marwa Adel Nasser Marwa Adel Eissa Nasser is an assistant professor of linguistics at the Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. She received her PhD in Linguistics in 2014. Her main area of research focuses on Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Phonology and Morphology. She had her MA and PhD in linguistics at the Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University. She has published papers in different journals. She has attended two international conferences as a presenter; the first one is 22nd Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), Syracuse University, New York and the second is CL2019 Conference, Cardiff University, UK. | ||
| References | ||
|
Abdalian, A. (2005). Why is that Funny? An Extension to the Semantic Script Theory of Humor. Swaethmore College: Swarthmore College Press. In El-Masry, M. (2021). Humor and Social Media: A Linguistic Analysis of Some Egyptian Coronavirus Memes. مجلة وادي النيل للدراسات والبحوث الإنسانية والاجتماعية والتربوبة المجلد ٣٠، العدد ٣٠ الجزء الخامس (اللغات الأجنبية) ابريل ٢٠٢١ الصفحة ٧٠٧-٧٥٤
Alkaraki, S. M. S., Alias, N. B., & Maros, M. (2024). Exploring the impact of social media humor related to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review on themes, coping mechanisms, critiques and linguistic devices. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2322227
Al-Saidi, A; Salman, S; and Rashid, S. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Implicatures in Covid-19 Coronavirus English Jokes, Al-Adab Journal 1(140). Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.31973/aj.v1i140.3604
Amici, P.( 2020). Humor in the age of COVID-19 lockdown: An explorative qualitative study. Psychiatria Danubina, 32(1), 15-20. In Mpofu, Shepherd, 2021. Social Media and COVID-19: Taking Humor During the Pandemic. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79279-4
Attardo & Raskin. (1991). Script theory revis(it)ed: joke similarity and joke representation model. Humor-International Journal of Humor Research, 4(3-4), 293-348. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1991.4.3-4.293
Attardo, S. (1994). Linguistic Theories of Humor. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110219029
Attardo, S. (1997). Locutionary and Perlocutionary Cooperation: The Perlocutionary Cooperative Principle. Journal of Pragmatics, (27), 753-779.
Attardo, S. (2001). Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Attardo, S. (2003). Introduction: The Pragmatics of Humor. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 1287-1294.
Attardo, S. (2014). Jokes. In Salvatore Attardo (ED.), Encyclopedia of Humor Studies, 418-420. Oxford University Press.
Attardo, S. (2020). The Linguistics of Humor: an Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198791270.001.0001
Badr, N. (2016). A Linguistic Study of Humor in Bassem Youssef's “Al Bernameg” and Jon Stewart's “The Daily Show”: A Multi-Modal Integrated Approach .JSSA,_17( 3),1-42. Retrieved from https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/?_action=article&au=39202&_au=Nouran+Omar+Abd+Al-+Hamed++Badr
Bageshwar, B.R. & Zafar, S. (2023). Beyond laughter and smiles: analytical paradigms in social media COVID-19 humour studies. European Journal of Humor Research. https://europeanjournalofhumour.org/ejhr/issue/view/41
Beattie, J.( 1776). “An essay on laughter, and ludicrous composition”. In Raskin, V. (1984). Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. D. Reidel Publishing Company.
Bischetti, Canal, & Bambini. (2021). Funny but aversive: A large-scale survey of the emotional response to Covid-19 humor in the Italian population during the lockdown. Lingua, 249.
Chiodo, C. P., Broughton, K. K., & Milchalski, M. P. (2020). Caution: Wit and humor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foot and Ankle International, 41(6), (pp.763-764). In Mpofu, Shepherd, 2021. Social Media and COVID-19: Taking Humor During the Pandemic. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79279-4
Gonot-Schoupinsky, Freda & Garip, Gulcan. (2021). The Covid-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for Positive Psychology to Promote a Wider-Ranging Definition of Humour and Laughter. In The Palgrave Handbook of Humour Research. Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78280-1_23
Ibnu Sina, Muhammad Yusuf. (2022). Lexical and Structural Ambiguity Resulting in Humor Found in Comedy Movie. M.A. thesis. Retrieved from: https://repository.unsri.ac.id/70385/3/RAMA_88203_06011281823035_0026085703_01_front_ref.pdf
Dynel, M. (2009). Beyond a Joke: Types of Conversational Humour. Language and Linguistics Compass 3/5:1284–1299, 10.1111/j.1749-818x.2009. 00152.x. In Salman, Shahira Mousa. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Implicature in Covid-19 Coronavirus English Jokes: A Neo-Gricean Approach. Al-Adab Journal, no.140. DOI: 10.31973/aj.v1i140.3604
El-Masry, M. (2021). Humor and Social Media: A Linguistic Analysis of Some Egyptian Coronavirus Memes. مجلة وادي النيل للدراسات والبحوث الإنسانية والاجتماعية والتربوبة المجلد ٣٠، العدد ٣٠ الجزء الخامس (اللغات الأجنبية) ابريل ٢٠٢١ الصفحة ٧٠٧-٧٥٤. Retrieved from: https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/article_169855_c1048a131e04e700d9251b325bc941a3.pdf
Freud, Sigmund. (1905). Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. London: Routledge.
Grice, P. (1975). Logic and Conversation. Syntax and Semantic Journal, 3, 41-58.
Hockett, Ch. (1977). Jokes. In C.F. Hockett (ed). The View from Language. Athens: University of Georgia press.
Horn, L. (1989/2004). Implicature. In: L.R.Horn and G. Ward (eds.). The Handbook of Pragmatics. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 3-28. https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/file/9-WANG-WANG.pdf?VersionId=3fFsgCzN9w5R4yjf.ckKDcjsSp0lvgFE
Jiang,T, Li, Hao & Hou, Yubo. ( 2019). Cultural Differences in Humor Perception, Usage, and Implications. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00123
Kamel, Salma M. (2020). Semantic Approach to Verbal Humor Across Cultural Barriers in Comic TV Shows. Journal of language and translation, 7 (1), 57-95. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.21608/jltmin.2020.143461
Kant, I. (1790). Critique of Judgement, James Creed Meredith (tr.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kovecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kuipers, G. (2008). The Sociology of Humor. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. In Al-Saidi, A; Salman, S; and Rashid, S. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Implicatures in Covid-19 Coronavirus English Jokes. Al-Adab Journal 1(140). Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.31973/aj.v1i140.3604
Lakoff , G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Lew, R.(1996). Exploitation of Linguistic Ambiguity in Polish and English Jokes. Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 31, 127-133.
Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. Burlington, MA, USA: Elsevier Academic Press.
McGhee , P. (2010). Humor: Its Origin and Development. San Francisco-Reading: Freeman.
Morreall, J. (2009). Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor, Maiden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI:10.1002/9781444307795
Mulyadi, M., Yusuf, M., & Siregar, R. (2021). Verbal humor in selected Indonesian stand up comedian’s discourse: Semantic analysis using GVTH, Cogent Arts & Humanities volume 8(1).Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311983.2021.1943927
Nijholt. A. (2003). Humour research: State of the art. International Journal of Humour Research, 16(1), 1-48.
Oring, E. (2003). Engaging Humor. University of Illinois Press.
Raskin, V. (1984/1985). Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Reidel.
Raskin, V., Hempelmann, F, & Taylor, J. (2009). How to understand and assess a theory: The evolution of the SSTH into the GTVH and now into the OSTH. Journal of Literary Theory. DOI: 10.1515/JLT.2009.016
Rayz, Julia. (2017). Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor in a context of a humorous discourse. In Humorous Discourse, De Gruyter Mouton. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501507106-010
Ruch & Hehl. (2007). A two-mode model of humor appreciation: Its relation to aesthetic appreciation and simplicity-complexity of personality. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 3(4), 225-243.
Salman, S; AlSaidi, A, & Rashid, S. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Implicature in Covid-19 Coronavirus English Jokes: A Neo-Gricean Approach. Al-Adab Journal, 140. DOI: 10.31973/aj.v1i140.3604
Sara Al-Sawaeer, Ghaleb Rabab’Ah & Andrew J. Powe. (2022). Humor in the Arabic comedy show, N2O, Cogent Arts & Humanities (2022), 9: 2082019.
Schmitz, J. R. (2002). Humor as a pedagogical tool in foreign language and translation courses. Humor, 15(1), 89-114. In Salman, S; AlSaidi, A, & Rashid, S. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Implicature in Covid-19 Coronavirus English Jokes: A Neo-Gricean Approach. Al-Adab Journal, 140.
Schopenhauer, A. (1883). The World as Will and Idea. London: Trubner.
Seewoester, S. (2009). Linguistic Ambiguity in Language-based Jokes. College Communication M.A. Thesis. Retrieved from: http://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt/3
Stanley, J.(2021). “Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Humor Appreciation and Function Across the Lifespan”. In The Palgrave Handbook of Humour Research, 341-361. Retrieved from: DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-78280-1_18
Suls, J. (2016). Oxford Handbook of Humor Research. Oxford University Press.
Taylor, M., J. (2014). Linguistic Theories of Humor. In Salvatore Attardo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Humor Studies, 456-458. Oxford University Press.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Torres-Marin, Jorge, Navarro-Carrillo, Gines, &Eid, Michael. (2022). Humor Styles, Perceived Threat, Funniness of COVID-19 Memes, and Affective Mood in the Early Stages of COVID-19 Lockdown. J Happiness Studies, 23(6), 2541-2561. doi: 10.1007/s10902-022-00500-x
Vaid, J., & Hull, R. (1981). A new look at the language-as-fixed-effect fallacy in psycholinguistics: A critique of the Goodman and Stedman analysis of joke completions. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20(2), 206-216.
Wiseman, Richard. (2002). LaughLab: The Scientific Quest for the World’s Funniest Joke. London: Arrow.
Yusuf, Muhammad & Siregar, Rumnasari K. (2021). Verbal humor in selected Indonesian stand up comedian’s discourse: Semantic analysis using GVTH, Cogent Arts & Humanities. 8,(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2021.1943927
Zabalbeascoa, P. (2008). The Nature of Audiovisual Text and its Parameters. In El-Masry, M. (2021). Humor and Social Media: A linguistic Analysis of Some Egyptian Coronavirus Memes. JWADA, 30 (30), 707-754. Retrieved from: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/article_169855_c1048a131e04e700d9251b325bc941a3.pdf | ||
|
Statistics Article View: 151 PDF Download: 240 |
||
