Interactional adjustments in humorous intercultural communication

Abstract

Research has shown that native speakers (NSs) are generally capable of adjusting their language to make it appropriate for a non-native speaker (NNS) interlocutor's proficiency. Very little is known in general about humorous interaction in intercultural communication, and in particular little is known about whether, how, and what types of conversational adjustments are made during such interaction. The research presented here suggests that the adjustments made by NSs during conversational humor often may not be appropriate for the NNS. In fact, in this type of communication, NSs who do not have experience in intercultural communication may actually overestimate the amount and types of adjustments that are necessary, thus underestimating the second language (L2) user's proficiency. The result is that the L2 user sometimes gets marginalized and constructed as less than competent during playful interaction. This paper reports on a case study of one L2 user who, due to the interactional adjustments that were made when humor was used, was often positioned in marginalizing ways by interlocutors who were inexperienced in intercultural communication.