Abstract
This study investigates the uses and functions of laughter and humour in a corpus of nine PhD defences/vivas. The data include the PhD defences in their entirety, including monologic and dialogic talk by participants from a variety of research cultures. The defences were video-recorded and transcribed, and laughter episodes analysed according to who laughed, who the source of “the laughable” was, what the reason for laughing was and at what point laughter occurred. The analysis reveals that a majority of laughter was non-humorous, produced by one person, and had the function of mitigating face threats to speakers and others. Humorous laughter was usually produced by more than one person and had the function of relieving tension, creating a non-adversarial atmosphere and building a community. These results are connected to the communicative purposes of the participants; the participants’ mutual aim is to examine an academic work and confirm the candidate’s membership in their chosen specialisation, which requires cooperation from all parties. Furthermore, although the participants come from different research cultures where humour can have a different presence and function, this study shows that laughter and humour are frequent and fill an important function in ELF interactions in high-stakes academic situations.
Abstrakt
Denna studie undersöker användning och funktioner för skratt och humor i en korpus av nio disputationer. Materialet omfattar disputationer i sin helhet, inklusive monologiska tal och dialogiska samtal med deltagare från en mängd olika forskningskulturer. Disputationerna filmades och transkriberades, och skrattepisoder analyserades enligt vem som skrattade, vem som var källan till det man skrattade åt, vad skälet till att man skrattade var, samt vid vilken tidpunkt skratt uppstod. Analysen visar att en majoritet av skratten var icke-humoristiska, producerade av endast en person, och hade funktionen att mildra hot mot talarens och andras ansikte. Humoristiskt skratt producerades vanligtvis av mer än en person och hade funktionen att lindra spänningar, skapa en positiv atmosfär och bygga en gemenskap. Dessa resultat är kopplade till deltagarnas kommunikativa syften. Deltagarnas ömsesidiga mål är att undersöka ett akademiskt arbete och godkänna kandidatens medlemskap i sin valda specialisering, vilket kräver samarbete från alla parter. Även om deltagarna kommer från olika forskningskulturer där humor kan ha en annan närvaro och funktion visar den här studien att skratt och humor är frekventa och fyller en viktig funktion i ELF-interaktioner i akademiska situationer med avgörande betydelse.
About the author
Špela Mežek is a postdoctoral researcher in Educational Linguistics at the Department of Languages, Linnæus University. Her research interests include English for Academic Purposes, advanced second-language reading, vocabulary learning, and genre studies.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Aleksandra Oletić for her help with transcription and Beyza Björkman and the reviewers for their comments on the drafts of this paper. This research was supported by the Åke Wiberg Foundation (grant number H14-0145) and the Anér Foundation (grant number FB15-0081).
Appendix: transcription conventions
- Uncertain transcription:
(text)
- Unintelligible speech:
(xx)
- Overlapping speech:
[text]
- Transcriber commentary:
((text))
- Laughter:
<laugh-Speaker>
- Longer pauses:
<P: seconds>
- Speakers:
Candidate – Cand
Chair – Ch
Examiner – Ex
Examining Committee Member – Comm
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