Volume 29, Issue 4 -

A two-phase experimental study investigates the role of economic conditions on humor generation and on the relationship between perceived humor and attitude toward the ad (Aad). It designates that the economic context affects the generation of humor and the relationship between perceived humor and Aad; TV commercials can more effectively create humor as well as positive Aad in an expansion rather than in a recession. The generation of humor during a recession, requires a combination of high levels of perceived surprise and low levels of perceived irritation. In the same vein, attitude towards a humorous ad, in a recession, increases significantly only when there is high perceived humor and low perceived irritation. Specific managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

This paper provides a semiotic analysis of political cartoons published in Jordan prior to and during the 2013 elections. It seeks to depict the sociopolitical context after the 2011 Arab Spring and focuses on the changes to people’s practices and stances toward politics and politicians. The data consist of political cartoons by the Jordanian cartoonist Imad Hajjaj drawn during the parliamentary election campaigns in 2007, 2010, and 2013. This paper argues that the humor generated in cartoons conveys strong messages that require an analysis of the interaction between the different signs in cartoons and their social and ideological implications. A model of analysis derived from Barthes’ perception of denotation and connotation theories is adopted. This model is comprised of three types of messages: linguistic, literal, and symbolic. The analysis identifies different messages in the cartoons before and after 2011. Unlike the cartoons from 2007 and 2010, the linguistic and denoted messages in the cartoons of 2013 connoted a sense of salvation, achievement, victory, freedom, dignity, and democracy, merits that had rarely been highlighted in previous cartoons. This attitude is reflected by themes such as the positive image of the young, public awareness of political and national issues, and resistance towards corruption. The study sheds light on this neglected area of visual communication in the Arab world and hopes to provide new insights into the fields of semiotics, pragmatics, multimodal analysis, and critical discourse analysis.

Abstract: This article explores the interface between language play and language awareness. Grounded in an understanding of two kinds of language play, ludic language play and language play as rehearsal, it shows how the shared theoretical underpinnings and distinctive features of both overlap with the concept of language awareness. Spanning across cognitive, affective, and social dimensions of learners’ language awareness, both types of language play highlight learners’ conscious perception and sensitivity to linguistic forms and functions, attention, noticing, alertness, and particularly engagement. The paper contends that there is a close connection between language play and language awareness, and thereby argues that language play episodes, whether for the purpose of amusement or private rehearsal, could yield insights into students’ knowledge about language and their ability to reflect on it through engagement with language. Finally, the paper outlines implications for research on language play episodes and for their use in teaching to incorporate humor into the language classroom.

Despite the adaptation of the humor styles questionnaire for older children a measure suitable for children below the age of eleven was needed. The current research involved three separate studies leading to the creation of the humor styles questionnaire for younger children (HSQ-Y), suitable for those aged 8–11 years. Study one involved the development of a measure to assess aggressive and affiliative humor. Subsequently, study two involved the adaptation of the measure to include all four humor styles, which was administered to children alongside a measure of friendship quality. To provide further validation for the HSQ-Y as a measure, study three involved the administration of the HSQ-Y twice over a three-week period and peer reports of the four humor styles. Several measures of psychosocial adjustment were also included. The HSQ-Y was found to be a reliable and valid measure of the four humor styles in children aged 8–11 years. Associations between the humor styles and psychosocial adjustment variables were also found, supporting the discriminant validity of the measure.

The sitcom genre is one of the most enduringly popular, yet we still know surprising little about their specific elements. This study aimed to develop a typology of humor techniques that best describe the components comprising the sitcom genre. New original techniques were added to applicable techniques from previous schemes to propose a sitcom-specific humor typology. This typology was tested with another coder for inter-coder reliability, and it was revealed the typology is theoretically sound, practically easy, and reliable. The typology was then used to code four well-known US sitcoms, with the finding that the techniques used aligned with the two most prominent theories of humor – superiority and incongruity.

How serious are ethnic jokes? This article investigates this question by looking at the relation between ethnic jokes and ethnic relations in the Netherlands. It analyzes two corpora covering the range of ethnic jokes collected using an (almost) identical survey among high school students in 1995 ( N= 248) and 2012 ( N =312). Finding a complex pattern of overlapping and shifting scripts, we identify three main categories of jokes with different dynamics. The first and second category, jokes about national groups and regional minorities, and sick ethnic jokes, are both in decline. The third category, jokes about ethnic minorities, is prominent in both years, and the most important category in 2012. Jokes about minorities show considerable variation and a “lag” in their reflection of societal changes. They refer to the most prominent ethnic stereotypes and ethnic discourse, and reflect the Dutch ethnic hierarchy and changes in ethnic relations over time. We argue that a single theory or approach is not sufficient to explain all ethnic humor or to assess its seriousness – or lack thereof. We conclude by suggesting two criteria to assess the seriousness of ethnic humor: the relation between jokes and actual hostility and exclusion; and the harshness of a joke cycle.