Copyright by Karyn Hopper Rayburn 2011
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Copyright by Karyn Hopper Rayburn 2011 THE DISSERTATION COMMITTEE FOR KARYN HOPPER RAYBURN CERTIFIES THAT THIS IS THE APPROVED VERSION OF THE FOLLOWING DISSERTATION: LINGUISTIC HUMOR COMPREHENSION IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Committee: Dale Koike, Supervisor Chiyo Nishida Jaqueline Toribio Carl Blyth Keith Walters LINGUISTIC HUMOR COMPREHENSION IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE by Karyn Hopper Rayburn, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN DECEMBER, 2011 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my loving husband and children. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the family, friends, and colleagues that have supported me during my pursuit of this doctoral degree. First, I would like to thank Zach for his endless patience, love, and compassion. His insights into humor and his ability to keep me laughing were invaluable during the long nights and weekends I spent away from home. My two boys, Mason and Evan, although much too young to lend verbal support have grounded me in this process as continual reminders of the important things in life. I would like to thank Zach’s mom, Kathy, for enthusiastically encouraging me every step of the way. Her gracious nature, friendship, and praise allowed me to leave my children with the knowledge that they were in capable hands. I will be forever indebted to my wonderful sisters, Lesley and Stacey, not only for the hours they dedicated to my sons but also for their interest and pride in my educational goals. Finally, this project would never have been finished without the emotional support and dedication of my parents. They instilled in me a love of literature, language, and humor at an early age as well as a sense of fortitude and perseverance that lifted me through my final writing stages. They never waver in their support and for this I will be eternally grateful. Many of my colleagues at the University of Texas have been a source of camaraderie and encouragement. In particular, I would like to thank Dan for agreeing to share a desk with a night owl, provide useful comments, and much needed social reprieves. Lanie and Lori have been sympathetic, dissertation-writing friends who have greatly contributed to my intellectual growth. Michael Mahometa’s patience and direction was instrumental in guiding my data analysis. Christy, Ashley, and Laura have been devoted friends and advocates who have helped me maintain a balanced life between work and play. The genesis of the project began in a pragmatics course taught by my advisor and professor, Dr. Dale Koike. Her intuition, steadfast support, patience, and insightful suggestions are only a few from a long list of generous contributions to this work. Her tireless dedication, instrumental feedback, and her unique ability to guide are an inspiration to me as an aspiring scholar and future advisor. I have grown so much under her tutelage and look forward to future collaborations. Dr. Keith Walters’ fascinating and challenging course encouraged me to pursue a research path based in sociolinguistic theories. His passion for education and ability to make each day a treasurable experience are virtues that I hope to duplicate. I would also like to thank Dr. Chiyo Nishida whose classes in syntax and contrastive analysis were very helpful in understanding the complexities of the Spanish language. Dr. Carl Blyth contributed greatly to the conceptual design of the study by ‘thinking aloud’ during the proposal defense thereby inspiring the second half of this research. Finally, Dr. Jacqueline Toribio has been a gracious, fun, and encouraging addition to the committee. v LINGUISTIC HUMOR COMPREHENSION IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Karyn Hopper Rayburn, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Dale Koike The aims of this study are twofold: (1) to examine the development of linguistic humor interpretation and comprehension by second language (L2) Spanish learners by using a linguistic humor instrument comprised of comic strips, considering the linguistic properties of Spanish; and (2) to see whether and how reading comprehension ability is reflected in the understanding of four types of linguistic-based humor (i.e. semantic, syntactic, phonological, and morphological). Also discussed are the comprehension strategies utilized by the participants during humor processing. To address these goals, a mixed methods approach was implemented through a linguistic humor multiple-choice questionnaire together with a think-aloud protocol. Results are discussed with reference to Raskin’s (1985) Semantic-Script Switch Theory of Humor (SSTH). The data indicate: (1) comprehension of linguistic-based humor increases with L2 study; (2) L2 learners struggle most with polysemic lexical items; and (3) cognate status and pseudofamiliar words impede comprehension. Considering the analysis of the data, a reassessment of the SSTH and how it applies to L2 vi humor processing is suggested. Notably, linguistic-based scripts tend to dominate access to other non-linguistic based scripts because L2 learners remain within the linguistic- script frame and are unable to access and/or utilize non-linguistic scripts such as background knowledge. Furthermore, L2 learners contend with error scripts as an additional obstacle, which NS do not experience. The findings suggest that learners should be encouraged and explicitly taught about lexical depth in order to increase their ability to infer meaning from context, thereby increasing their metalinguistic knowledge base. Recommendations are made for the adjustment of the SSTH theory to be more inclusive of L2 learning environments. Finally, suggestions for the L2 classroom include: (1) methods to increase metacognitive awareness; and (2) pedagogical approaches to introduce language-based humor. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. V TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ VIII LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... XIII LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... XV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................ XVI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Humor Comprehension and the L2 Learner ...................................................... 1 1.2 Humor Comprehension Theories ...................................................................... 6 1.2.1 The Psychoanalytical or Release / Relief Theories of Humor .............. 6 1.2.2 Social / Behavioral or Disparagement Theories of Humor ................... 7 1.2.3 Incongruity Theory of Humor ............................................................... 8 1.2.4 Semantic-Script Switch Theory of Humor Comprehension ............... 11 1.3 Humor Categorization ..................................................................................... 20 1.3.1 Reality-based Humor .......................................................................... 20 1.3.2 Culture-based Humor .......................................................................... 21 1.3.3 Linguistic-based Humor ...................................................................... 22 1.3.3.1 Phonological elements ............................................................. 26 1.3.3.1.1 Lexical Pairs ................................................................ 26 1.3.3.1.2 Minimal Pairs .............................................................. 26 1.3.3.1.3 Metathesis .................................................................... 27 1.3.3.1.4 Stress / Juncture ........................................................... 27 1.3.3.2 Morphological elements .......................................................... 28 1.3.3.2.1 Irregular Morphology .................................................. 28 1.3.3.2.2 Morphological Analysis .............................................. 28 1.3.3.2.3 Exploitation of Bound Morphemes ............................. 29 1.3.3.2.4 Pseudomorphology ...................................................... 29 viii 1.3.3.3 Syntactic elements ................................................................... 30 1.3.3.3.1 Phrase Structure ........................................................... 30 1.3.3.3.2 Transformational Ambiguity ....................................... 30 Table 1.1: Elements of Linguistic Humor .................................... 32 1.4 Comic Strips as Humor Text ........................................................................... 33 1.4.1 Comic Strips and the L2 Classroom .................................................... 34 1.4.2 Comic Strips and L2 Acquisition ........................................................ 36 1.5 Language Play and the L2 Learner ................................................................. 37 1.6 Contribution of Current Research ................................................................... 40 1.6.1 Pragmatic Competence and