Phonological humor as perception and representation of foreignness

Javier Muñoz-Basols | University of Oxford

Pawel Adrjan | University of Warwick

Marianne David | Pace University, New York

The repertoire of humor based on the phonological aspect of language is vast, and such humor can be found in different media and textual modes. This article focuses on verbal humor, specifically on ‘phonological jokes,’ in which words or phonemes of one’s own language are made to imitate or parody the sounds of another language (Muñoz-Basols 2013). Based on evidence that this type of joke is a widespread practice found in over 30 languages (Muñoz-Basols 2012), we classify the linguistic strategies used in such jokes to humorously represent foreignness. We analyze phonological jokes within the framework of cultural, social, individual, and comparative humorous contexts (Oring 2008), and we establish that they differ from ethnic jokes and belong to a distinct category of humor.

Published online: 31 July 2013
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.231.10bas

Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Muñoz-Basols, Javier & Danica Salazar

2016. Cross-linguistic lexical influence between English and Spanish. Spanish in Context 13:1 ► pp. 80 ff.

Salem, Essa, Marwan Jarrah & Imran Alrashdan

2020. Humor and the Creative Use of English Expressions in the Speech of University Students: A Case From Jordan. SAGE Open 10:1 ► pp. 215824402091455 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.