The British television situation comedy is a blend of word play and visual humour that involves the audience in a pleasurable weekly appointment of viewing fo the purpose of "having a laugh". However, it can also be a particularly pleasurable resource for foreign language students when applied to lessons focussing not only on the English language but on its culture as well. A close analysis of the humorous exchanges that crowd a half-hour programme will bring out many key concepts - from traditional dichotomies of the form and function, semantic and pragmatic meaning of utterances to textual features of cohesion, intertextuality and interaction (exchange structure, speech act theory, politeness, and so on) - that need to be recognised in order for the viewer/student to appreciate the pragmatic intentions of the speaker in the ongoing interaction. Jjust as the copious references to aspects of everyday British life are a test of general knowledge for a British viewer who must capture their pertinence in the context of the ongoing verbal play in order to appreciate their humorous intent, so they are for the student of English to recognise not only the illocutionary force of the utterance within the humorous exchange but also possibly unfamiliar characteristics of the culture of the language they are studying. Based on a corpus of British TV sitcoms, this paper provides a number of possible applications in the university classroom.

Laughter in the Lecture Theatre / Mansfield, Gillian. - (2012).

Laughter in the Lecture Theatre

MANSFIELD, Gillian
2012-01-01

Abstract

The British television situation comedy is a blend of word play and visual humour that involves the audience in a pleasurable weekly appointment of viewing fo the purpose of "having a laugh". However, it can also be a particularly pleasurable resource for foreign language students when applied to lessons focussing not only on the English language but on its culture as well. A close analysis of the humorous exchanges that crowd a half-hour programme will bring out many key concepts - from traditional dichotomies of the form and function, semantic and pragmatic meaning of utterances to textual features of cohesion, intertextuality and interaction (exchange structure, speech act theory, politeness, and so on) - that need to be recognised in order for the viewer/student to appreciate the pragmatic intentions of the speaker in the ongoing interaction. Jjust as the copious references to aspects of everyday British life are a test of general knowledge for a British viewer who must capture their pertinence in the context of the ongoing verbal play in order to appreciate their humorous intent, so they are for the student of English to recognise not only the illocutionary force of the utterance within the humorous exchange but also possibly unfamiliar characteristics of the culture of the language they are studying. Based on a corpus of British TV sitcoms, this paper provides a number of possible applications in the university classroom.
2012
9788871157672
Laughter in the Lecture Theatre / Mansfield, Gillian. - (2012).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11381/2383020
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