The Chinese as targets in Polish humorous discourse
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Dorota Brzozowska
Dorota Brzozowska is Professor at the Institute of English, Opole University, Poland. Her scholarly research interests comprise of synchronic linguistics, stylistics, discourse analysis, research on humour, intercultural communication, semiotics and gender studies. She authored the following books:
O dowcipach polskich i angielskich. Analiza językowo-kulturowa [On Polish and English Jokes. A Linguistic and Cultural Analysis];Polski dowcip etniczny. Stereotyp a tożsamość [The Polish Ethnic Joke. Stereotype and Identity] andChińskie ślady w polskich dyskursach współczesnych [Chinese traces in Polish contemporary discourses]. She is a co-editor of multiple books on humour and two journals:The European Journal for Humour Research andTertium Linguistic Journal .
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Władysław Chłopicki
Władysław Chłopicki is a linguist, Senior Lecturer at Institute of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. His academic interests include interdisciplinary humour research in the context of cultural studies, cognitive linguistics, linguistic pragmatics and narratology as well as translation studies. He has authored e.g. the Polish language monograph on humour (
O humorze poważnie ), and co-edited monographs e.g.Polish Humour, Cognition in Language, Culture’s Software: Communication Styles andHumorous Discourse , as well as a special issue ofStyles of Communication journal. Member of editorial boards of international journals, includingHumor , and co-editor ofThe European Journal of Humour Research andTertium Linguistic Journal .
Abstract
The paper discusses contemporary Polish humor which features references to Chinese language and culture. Together with the ideological, political, financial and economic visibility of China, its presence in Polish humorous discourse is on the rise. Jokes, cabaret sketches and visual materials, such as memes, more and more frequently use the Chinese as targets for entertaining the audience. The article will analyze the instances of Polish humorous discourse (largely Internet memes) to show which are the most frequent specific stereotypes about the Chinese and how that relates to Davies’s models of target choice. The results suggest that Polish humor about the Chinese as an untypical case of center-periphery relations constitutes an extension of Davies’s model in that Poles see the Chinese as both comically “stupid” and “clever”. The specific comic scripts evoked by the humorous material include not only that of cheap Chinese products, incomprehensible language or proverbs and unrecognizability of the Chinese people from other Asians (all considered scripts of a periphery), but also of the huge population and high sophistication of Chinese civilization (perceived as a center). Some of our humor material, however, is better explained using Davies’s monopoly-competition model due to references to authoritarian leaders.
About the authors
Dorota Brzozowska is Professor at the Institute of English, Opole University, Poland. Her scholarly research interests comprise of synchronic linguistics, stylistics, discourse analysis, research on humour, intercultural communication, semiotics and gender studies. She authored the following books: O dowcipach polskich i angielskich. Analiza językowo-kulturowa [On Polish and English Jokes. A Linguistic and Cultural Analysis]; Polski dowcip etniczny. Stereotyp a tożsamość [The Polish Ethnic Joke. Stereotype and Identity] and Chińskie ślady w polskich dyskursach współczesnych [Chinese traces in Polish contemporary discourses]. She is a co-editor of multiple books on humour and two journals: The European Journal for Humour Research and Tertium Linguistic Journal.
Władysław Chłopicki is a linguist, Senior Lecturer at Institute of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. His academic interests include interdisciplinary humour research in the context of cultural studies, cognitive linguistics, linguistic pragmatics and narratology as well as translation studies. He has authored e.g. the Polish language monograph on humour (O humorze poważnie), and co-edited monographs e.g. Polish Humour, Cognition in Language, Culture’s Software: Communication Styles and Humorous Discourse, as well as a special issue of Styles of Communication journal. Member of editorial boards of international journals, including Humor, and co-editor of The European Journal of Humour Research and Tertium Linguistic Journal.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction: Special Issue dedicated to Christie Davies
- Oppositions, overlaps, and ontologies: The general theory of verbal humor revisited
- Tearing up the sanity clause: A class action
- Was it you who died, or your brother?
- Between cant and Kant: Christie Davies and the (im?)possibility of seriousness in humor studies
- Early Titanic Jokes: A disaster for the theory of disaster jokes?
- Christie Davies at the Humor Summer School
- The Chinese as targets in Polish humorous discourse
- Racism in recent Greek migrant jokes
- Lessons learned about humor from J.C.H. Davies and examples in his home collection
- America’s faith in the laugh resistance – popular beliefs about political humor in the 2016 presidential elections
- Select bibliography of Christie Davies’ works
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction: Special Issue dedicated to Christie Davies
- Oppositions, overlaps, and ontologies: The general theory of verbal humor revisited
- Tearing up the sanity clause: A class action
- Was it you who died, or your brother?
- Between cant and Kant: Christie Davies and the (im?)possibility of seriousness in humor studies
- Early Titanic Jokes: A disaster for the theory of disaster jokes?
- Christie Davies at the Humor Summer School
- The Chinese as targets in Polish humorous discourse
- Racism in recent Greek migrant jokes
- Lessons learned about humor from J.C.H. Davies and examples in his home collection
- America’s faith in the laugh resistance – popular beliefs about political humor in the 2016 presidential elections
- Select bibliography of Christie Davies’ works
