Language Play Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first (rhetorical) investigation of Persian stand-up comedy. In the present research, a rhetorical approach is taken to examine humor styles and techniques used in seven stand-up performances. These performances were performed by two Iranian comedians, the finalists from a recent (and probably the first) Persian stand-up comedy contest in Iran. Initially, Asian stand-up comedy is briefly addressed. Then, Persian stand-up comedy is introduced within the continuum of Iranian performing traditions. Afterward, the typology, unit of analysis and the communication framework employed in this research are elaborated on. Having established the historical and theoretical preliminaries, the paper reports on and discusses the findings. Particularly, the rhetorical devices used by the comedians to create humor are highlighted. Moreover, several aspects of the interaction between the comedians and the audience are touched upon. Finally, the paper points out several directions of Persian stand-up comedy, the study’s limitations and suggestions for further research.

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- Discourse Analysis, Rhetoric, Comedy, Humor

The purpose of the paper is to perform a quantitative analysis of how and to what extent the 167 instances of language-play found in the 91 episodes of the whole TV series "Chuck" was rendered in Italian. In order to do this, Thorsten Schröter’s translation strategies were taken as a frame of reference and applied to a part of the corpus of this study. Schröter’s categorization of language-play was also taken into account, not only to make for a clear-cut and orderly investigation, but also to help the search for a hypothetical category-related translation norm for language-play.
The paper is divided into five chapters: the first one casts light on the definition of language-play and its relationship to other similar or overlapping concepts such as puns, wordplay and humour, in addition to providing an overview of the “(un)translatability” of language-play in the relevant literature.
Three main factors that make the translation of language-play difficult will be thoroughly investigated in the second chapter, whereas a brief description of the TV series Chuck and of the methodological approach of the present study will be offered in the third chapter. The fourth chapter will be focused on the categorization and, most notably, the quantitative analysis of the translation strategies applied to all the instances of language-play from English into Italian. The fifth and last chapter of the dissertation will be devoted to presenting and discussing the gathered data, on the basis of which final conclusions will be drawn in an attempt to discredit the myth of the untranslatability of language-play.

- by Simone Zanetti
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- Translation Studies, Translation, Language Play, Humour Studies

This study examined university teachers' perceptions of the role of humor in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching, teachers' practices of humor use, and teachers' preferences regarding humor types in the context of Vietnam. An ethnographic approach was employed in this study, combining observations, fieldnotes and interviews. The findings revealed that teachers acknowledged several beneficial functions of humor in EFL teaching. All teachers used humor in their teaching, or claimed that they did so. The three most preferred types of humor are humorous comments, jokes, and funny stories, employed to lighten the atmosphere and increase the teachers' immediacy. Teachers' perceptions about their practices and preferred types of humor provide insights into their readiness to adopt humor in the classroom. This research raises awareness of how humor can be integrated in language teaching and provides recommendations for effective classroom use.

- by Eleni Petraki and +1
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- Humor, Language Play, English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

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.

- by Ahn So-Yeon
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- Humor, Language Play, Language Awareness

Salīm Barakāt is a Syrian-Kurdish poet and novelist, who first appeared on the Arabic poetic scene in the early 1970s. Although he experimented in his early work with a mixed form of verse and prose, he ultimately took up prose as matter for poetry, positing a distinct definition of the “poetic” rooted in an interrogation of the Arabic language and a close attentiveness to and violent playfulness with its grammar and syntax. This paper is a close reading of a poem titled “Istiṭrād fī siyāq mukhtazal” (Digression in an Abridged Context) from his 1996 collection T̩aysh al-yāqūt (The Recklessness of Sapphire). Language in this poem is penetrated, disrupted, occupied and overcome as the poem progresses towards its final Kurdish “shot,” towards the echo within one tongue of another tongue that has been repressed. Thus, Barakāt superimposes the linguistic onto the ethnic, sublimating the tension of Arab and Kurd into an invasive linguistic intervention. By that, he also disrupts the relationship between language and voice and urges us through his language play to hear, in Arabic, a different voice.

- by Huda Fakhreddine
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- Classical Archaeology, Arabic Poetry, Arabic, Classical Arabic Poetry

This chapter primarily introduces a novel approach to language education called, humor-integrated language learning (HILL). It addresses teaching with and about humor. In doing so, the theoretical and practical ties between humor and language are elaborated on. Then, in light of the relevant literature, an instructional design and methodology are put forth. Detailed examples are also accompanied to illuminate how HILL can be put into practice. Furthermore, the practical side of HILL (or generally humor in the language classroom) is touched upon. I also discuss how HILL can successfully be incorporated into other teaching paradigms such as CLT and TBLT. Finally, some pedagogical guidelines to implement HILL and a snapshot of future directions of this pedagogical approach are provided.

In this article, I present an analysis of talk-in-interaction from an introductory Japanese as a foreign language classroom at an American university. An examination of the data revealed language play (LP) to be a highly salient feature of the participants’ interactions. LP has come into increasing focus in the second language acquisition research of the last decade. Research in L1 has long shown the prevalence of LP in both the language data available to the learner and learner language production (e.g. Garvey 1984, [1977] 1990), and recent research in L2 has shown that LP is also a prominent characteristic of the language production of both child and adult L2 learners (Kramsch and Sullivan 1996; Cook 1997, 2000, 2001; Lantolf 1997; Sullivan 2000; Tarone 2000; Broner and Tarone 2001; Belz 2002a, 2002b; Bell 2005; Cekaite and Aronsson 2005; Kim and Kellog 2007). Adopting Cook’s (2000) definition of LP, I use conver- sation analysis to examine instances of LP in the participants’ interactions. Analysis focuses specifically on the ways in which LP functions within the context of the language learning classroom to provide ‘affordances’ (van Lier 2000, 2004) for language learning, and to become a resource for sequence- organization. The analysis shows that by and through the fictional world of LP, the participants were able to engage in the teacher-assigned pedagogical activities on their own terms. In the discussion, I argue that LP is potentially of great benefit to the linguistic development of second language learners— echoing Cekaite and Aronsson’s argument in favor of a ludic model of language learning, in which they contend that ‘we need to take non-serious language more seriously’ (2005: 169).

This paper reviews the literature on language play and its potential benefits for language teaching and learning from three interconnected theoretical foundations: sociocultural, dialogic, and principled communicative. Language play is presented not as an off-task behavior or inauthentic use of language, but as a potential learning tool. Humorous or facetious language play can reduce learner anxiety, while creating positive pressure to produce target language. This play can furthermore maintain learner interest in repetitive practice tasks by providing an outlet for creativity. This paper presents one practice activity that seeks to promote creative repetition through facetious language play in English discussion classes. It then discusses the activity's effects based on the author's informal observations, suggests possible variations and improvements, and presents a plan for future research.

- by Nick Kasparek
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- Language Play, English language teaching, Language Learning

WORD BOUNDARIES AND LANGUAGE PLAY. The aim of the paper is to present the role of incorrect speech segmentation in the process of creation of short ludic forms, such as calambours, epigrams, anecdotes, etc. The research tries to propose a classification of some of these uses, as it reveals common features between them. Most of the examples are excerpted from the social media Facebook, because the language play is very popular in the informal genres of Computer-Mediated Communication. The common feature between all researched examples is the coexistence of the meanings of both homonymic phrases. In fact, this impossibility to avoid ambiguity makes the phrases sound amusing and interesting.

- by Bilyana Todorova
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- Languages and Linguistics, Lexicology, Linguistic stylistics, Language Play

Previous research and informal observations have suggested a number of potential benefits of language play for learning, including positive effects on student use of target language. This mixed-methods research project explores whether a playful approach can help instructors achieve course objectives. It evaluates the relative success of three different orientations toward play in the practice stage: facilitation, encouragement, and indifference. It finds that facilitation resulted in the most play and indifference the least. While play is not strongly correlated with target language repetition in the practice activity itself, there is indication of greater target language internalization with play. Discussion quality was not dramatically different among the three treatment groups, but student questionnaire responses suggest that play is surprisingly linked to sharing more authentic ideas. The study's conclusion is thus that language play is better thought of as a possible on-task language learner behavior than as off-task diversion.

Chronograms are a cryptographic written practice in which the numerical values of some letters of a text encode a date relevant to that text. They constitute a form of ludic numeracy—a specific kind of ludic language or wordplay in which writers not only highlight their skill with words and numbers but also conceal information, forcing readers to expend effort to extract their hidden meanings. Four distinct chronogram traditions are outlined: South and Southeast Asian word-symbols, South Asian alphasyllabic numerals; Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic alphanumeric chronography; and the early modern Western European tradition using Roman numerals. This essay analyzes a corpus of over 10,000 Roman numeral chronograms from the 14th through the 20th centuries, drawn from those previously compiled by the antiquarian James Hilton. Roman numeral chronograms use the letters IVXLCDM, specially marked within texts, to encode dates. While these chronograms began prior to the Hindu-Arabic (Western) numerals’ ubiquitous use, they were most popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, by which time the Roman numerals were already archaic. It was thus just at the point when Roman numerals were falling out of everyday use that they were ripe for symbolic repurposing in chronograms.

The activity described in this lesson plan is designed for the engaging repetitive practice of target forms that learners can use to support their opinions in later academic tasks. The activity thereby aims to automatize these forms and... more

- by Nick Kasparek and +1
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- English for Academic Purposes, Humor and laughter in education, Language Play, English language teaching

LOLspeak is a complex and systematic reimagining of the English language. It is most often associated with the popular, productive and long-lasting internet meme ‘LOLcats’. This style of English is characterised by the simultaneous playful manipulation of multiple levels of language in order to perform an authentic ‘cat’ voice, and serves both as an entertaining in-group practice and as a cultural index which is recruited in the construction of identity.
Using community-generated web content as a corpus, we analyse some of the common speech play strategies (Sherzer 2002) used in LOLspeak, which include morphological reanalysis, atypical sentence structure and lexical playfulness. The linguistic variety that emerges from these manipulations displays collaboratively constructed norms and tendencies providing a standard which may be meaningfully adhered to or subverted by users.
Building on this, we use Bucholtz and Hall’s (e.g. 2005) interactional and ethnographic approach to linguistic analysis to examine how the speech play strategies used by participants allow for the simultaneous construction of two identities: firstly the identities of the cats that they claim to be speaking for, and secondly their own identity as savvy members of an online community of practice (Jones & Schieffelin 2009).

- by Alastair Pennycook
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- Sociology, Language Play

Humor-integrated language learning (HILL) is a recent development in TESOL which has attracted the attention of language teachers and researchers worldwide. It is motivated by findings from pedagogical humor research indicating that humor and language integration can, in fact, be conducive to significant benefits such as lowering learners’ affective filters (e.g., anxiety, inhibition), enhancing their motivation and classroom performance, and facilitating the acquisition and retention of second language (L2) knowledge.

This book focuses on the unexplored context of contemporary Swedish comic strips as sites of innovative linguistic practices, where humor is derived from language play and creativity, often drawing from English and other European languages as well as social and regional dialects of Swedish. The overall purpose of the book is to highlight linguistic playfulness in Swedish comic strips, as an example of practices as yet unobserved and unaccounted for in theories of linguistic humor as applied to comics scholarship. The book familiarizes the reader with the Swedish language and linguistic culture as well as contemporary Swedish comic strips, with chapters focusing on specific strategies of language play and linguistic humor, such as mocking Swedish dialects and Swedish-accented foreign language usage, invoking English language popular culture, swearing in multiple languages, and turn-final code-switching to English to signal the punchline. The book will appeal to readers interested in humor, comics, or how linguistic innovation, language play, and language contact each can further the modern development of language, exemplified by the case of Swedish.

- by Kristy Beers Fägersten
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- Humor psychology, Humor, Comics, Comics/Sequential Art

This book focuses on the unexplored context of contemporary Swedish comic strips as sites of innovative linguistic practices, where humor is derived from language play and creativity, often drawing from English and other European languages as well as social and regional dialects of Swedish. The overall purpose of the book is to highlight linguistic playfulness in Swedish comic strips, as an example of practices as yet unobserved and unaccounted for in theories of linguistic humor as applied to comics scholarship.
The book familiarizes the reader with the Swedish language and linguistic culture as well as contemporary Swedish comic strips, with chapters focusing on specific strategies of language play and linguistic humor, such as mocking Swedish dialects and Swedish-accented foreign language usage, invoking English language popular culture, swearing in multiple languages, and turn-final code-switching to English to signal the punchline.
The book will appeal to readers interested in humor, comics, or how linguistic innovation, language play, and language contact each can further the modern development of language, exemplified by the case of Swedish.

- by Kristy Beers Fägersten
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- Humor (Psychology), Humor, Comics, Comics/Sequential Art

The aim of the paper is to present how irony is expressed in the bg-mamma forums. Forum’s communication is written, dialogic, space- and time-distinct. The image of communicators is built by their language, so every user tries to make their messages interesting, intriguing and to dominate in conversations. That’s why irony is a wide-spread device for demonstrating power by language use. The irony is expressed by the help of synonymy, antonymy, homonymy and paronymy. http://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=63342

- by Bilyana Todorova
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- Stylistics, Computer-Mediated Communication, Language Play, Figurative language
- by Lauren Gawne
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- Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Language Play

- by Kristy Beers Fägersten
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- Humor psychology, Humor, Comics, Comics/Sequential Art

The paper shows that English in modern Russia, like in many other Expanding Circle countries, is predominantly used in a mix with Russian in the creative (poetic, aesthetic, imaginative, or innovative) function in various domains. In this article, the peculiarities of the creative use of English in the Russian context are highlighted, and the article also discusses the semantic and pragmatic aspects of English-Russian language play, demonstrating that English can be played on either just for entertainment or for conveying complex ideological meanings, determined by controversial attitudes to Westernization and Englishization in Russian society.

- by Alexandra A Rivlina
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- Sociolinguistics, World Englishes, Language Play, Russian and English
- by Jyotsna Vaid
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- Aesthetics, Applied Linguistics, Second Language Writing, Writing
- by Evelyn Shih
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- Japanese Cinema, Literature from Taiwan, Language Play, Satire & Irony

The use of humor has been a controversial research topic in language classrooms. Humor is pervasive; however, the functions of humor in primary English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms is under-investigated. To analyze the distinct features of humor, this study explores the specific functions of humor in primary English teaching classrooms in South Korea. The data set included thirty 40-minute English lessons videotaped in 2019 and semi-structured interviews with three teachers. Data were analyzed by identifying humor sequences, transcribing these classroom sessions and interviews, coding recurrent themes, and sorting representative excerpts. As a result, psychological, social, and behavioral functions of humor were conceptualized. The findings showed that humor (i) mitigated learners' anxiety and aroused interest in language learning, (ii) reinforced constructive teacher-learner relationships and enabled camaraderie between learners, and (iii) regulated student behavior or rationalized learners' listening incomprehension. Pedagogical implications are also discussed regarding ways to use and respond to humor in language classrooms.

Classroom humor is still a subject of spirited debate in (formal) language settings. While some language teachers frown upon humor as a distraction from the serious business of learning and teaching, it is regarded as an insightful phenomenon, conducive to pedagogical benefits, by some others. In light of the relevant literature, this article initially conceptualizes humor in the language classroom. Then, under the purview of several common TESOL paradigms, the use of humor in language contexts is justified and its beneficial effects are elaborated on. The paper elucidates how focus on form and fun can coincide during class interaction, offering valuable opportunities for language acquisition. Finally considering the double-edged nature of humor, the paper warns against the practical pitfalls and puts forth guidelines for successful implementation of classroom humor. In doing so, special attention is paid to issues such as teachers’ concerns, learners’ sociocultural and individual differences, and humor linguistic demands.

This paper explores the potential use of a creative dialogue-writing activity in an English discussion course. It reviews the literature to present a complex understanding of creativity and the potential benefits of creativity for language learning. It describes the author’s development and use of a gap-fill activity to help learners produce imaginative dialogues. The paper illustrates how learners used the activity creatively and how they seemed to transfer their creativity into discussions. It also presents the author’s investigation into hypothesized indirect benefits of promoting creativity for language learning. The results of this investigation suggest that the activity may have improved the quality of use of some creative functional language, but that there were no significant observable effects on the quantity of this use, learners’ sense of ownership and interest, or their emotional states. Thus, the activity may be useful only for providing an additional creative outlet for learners.

- by Nick Kasparek
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- Creativity, TESOL, Language Play, English Language Teaching (ELT)

In this article, I investigate how 2 young Tzotzil Mayan siblings playfully manipulate
the sequential structure of adjacency pairs to align, to confront each other, and to challenge family roles and hierarchies. The young learners’ intentional disruption re-
veals the early control of dialogic repetition typical of Mayan languages. More im- 20 portant, it illustrates the children’s development of communicative competence as
they reorganize greeting structures or reauthorize messages through frame shifts.

The language classroom is a complex environment with a multitude of factors contributing to the students’ experiences. Largely outside of the awareness of teachers, researchers, and language learners themselves, private speech forms the foundation for language internalization (Gass, 2013; Ohta, 2001). This research focuses specifically on two aspects of private speech: repetition and language play in an introductory, undergraduate French language classroom. Student surveys, audio recordings of individuals during class, and interviews were conducted and synthesized to better understand the student learning experience. Findings from this study are presented as starting points for further lines of inquiry in second language acquisition research.

- by Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek
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- Discourse Analysis, Languages, Psychology, Teaching and Learning

This study aimed at bringing together the notions of language play and focus on form (FonF) through a cross-sectional investigation of playful language-related episodes (PLREs). PLREs, as a remarkably under-explored aspect of second language (L2) learners' focus on form, peer interaction and language play, were analyzed in an Iranian EFL context with 86 learners at elementary, intermediate and advanced level of L2 competence. The analysis of 46 hours of the participants' group interaction implied the facilitative role of L2 competence in the linguistic scope of PLREs. Different categories of PLREs also showed (slight) proficiency-based variations. The elementary learners, for instance, seemed more inclined to instigate pragmatic PLREs than formal ones. In this paper, major findings of the study are discussed in light of learners' L2 competence. Elaborating on this pivotal notion, I conclude the paper with a note on the pervasiveness of PLREs, ideas for more investment in L2 play and suggestions for further research.

This study examines participation in language play (LP) during spontaneous multiparty talk in a Foreign Language Housing (FLH) program. FLH programs represent hybrid spaces where talk emerges naturally for social reasons but is framed under an institutional purpose for language learning. Given its multifunctional ability to simultaneously coordinate both sociable humor and learning-in-interaction, LP emerges as a salient resource in such dual-purpose environments. Using a multimodal Conversation Analysis of two extended sequences of LP during mealtime conversations, this study analyzes how FLH participants deploy verbal and embodied resources to organize participation in LP. It then illustrates how these strategies dynamically orient to sociability and learning, thereby constructing a hybrid social-and-learning interactional space. As prior studies of LP and learning draw primarily from classroom dyadic conversations, this study sheds additional light on the role of LP in regulating multiparty social talk, with application to understanding the interactional organization of informal immersion-based language learning programs.

- by Villy Tsakona
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- Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics, Humor, Discourse

Presentation at EFL Teacher Journeys Conference 2017

In civilizations across the world, a good portion of conversation revolves around stories being told in one form or another (Kiernan, 2010). Experience happens narratively: Life is not just a collection of random experiences, but rather how it is interpreted and re-interpreted, told and retold (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Despite this, a good number of ELT teachers remain reluctant to include content that helps students develop these skills. Expanding on Jones’s (2001) conscious-raising approach, this article introduces a student-centered method that tasks students to describe the narrative events of a Just for Laughs: Gags skit. At the midpoint of the semester, students completed a Google Form that included two open-ended questions: “What is your favorite part of the course?” and “Can you offer any suggestions for improvement?” By analyzing relevant themes in the data, this study aims to identify pedagogic strategies on how language instructors can teach skills in storytelling.

- by Colin Walker
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- South Korea, Storytelling, Pedagogy, TESL
- by Odile Aurora O Strik
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- German Language, Dutch, Language Play, Humour Studies