ࡱ> ac`ghbjbj.jr\r\> dddddxxxx4x/.......$0b3p.d.ddn/3"3"3"dd.3".3"3"-hK.E9w-k./0/-3!|3 K.3dK. 3"..3"/3 L *:HUMOUR IN ENGLISH CLASSES Ester Vidovi Faculty of Teacher Education, Rijeka, Croatia ester@ufri.hr ABSTRACT The paper focuses on the role of humour in the context of teaching English as a foreign language. Humour significantly influences students motivation but can also be instructive, since it aids in the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar, thereby helping students recognise linguistic features as outlined in a lighter note. Special attention is paid to jokes based on polysemy, homonymy and homophony and the cognitive processes that make such jokes possible. The paper addresses the issue of polysemic/homonymic/homophonic jokes from a cognitivist perspective. Cognitive science understands homonymy as a result of polysemy, which is in turn perceived as an issue of categorisation. Metaphorical extensions of a core word within a category act like multiple, polysemic meanings of the core word. Models of categorization including Rosch s prototype model (1978), Lakoffs radial model (1990) and Langackers network model (2002) of categorisation serve as the bases for studying the functioning of jokes based on polysemy/homonymy/homophony. The study refers to Nerlich, Todd and Clarkes empirical study of the semantic development of children in connection with the use of polysemes, homonyms and homophones in jokes and riddles (1998). The initial hypothesis that humour based on polysemy and homonymy relies on the specificities of the language studied has proven itself correct. Humour based on homophony is characteristic for English humour, but not for Croatian. The main outcome of the study was the finding that differences in conceptualisation result in a different use of polysemes and homonyms in English and Croatian jokes, while similar conceptualisation leads to a similar use of polysemes and homonyms in humour. Jokes based on polysemy, homonymy and homophony contribute to the establishment of a more relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere in class. 1 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMOUR IN CLASS Humour is an important component of the teaching process. It contributes to establishing a more relaxed atmosphere in class, regardless of the students age. However, research has indicated that a positive learning environment is particularly important for young learners (Moon, 2005: 15). It is, as the methodologist Jayne Moon pointed out, one of the most important motivating factors in the context of learning a foreign language at an early age. The other factors include the teacher, teaching methods and appropriate learning materials (Moon, 2005: 16). The sociologist Miloa Ili names five crucial social and cultural functions of humour (Ili, 1989: 255): It serves as a medium of decreasing tension in society and as a means of establishing a psychological balance between the serious and non-serious parts of life; It functions as a medium which aids communication in society; It helps to identify and remove weaknesses that affect society; It is an important medium of entertainment and leisure; It helps individuals to protect themselves against social isolation. Humour is, claims the Croatian didacticist Milan Matijevi, not used enough in Croatian classrooms. There is no straightforward answer why this is the case, however, there is a general feeling amongst Croatian teachers that humour might distract students from performing more serious tasks in class (Matijevi, 1994: 27). In further text I intend to focus on jokes based on polysemy and homonymy in English and Croatian. A cross-semantic owerview will outline the specificities of the two languages as well as the importance of these jokes for learning a foreign language. 2 POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY According to the semanticist Frank R. Palmer, polysemy is the existence of a set of meanings for the same word, whereas homonymy is the existence of several words with the same shape (Palmer, 1995: 101). Cognitive scientists emphasise the connectedness beween different meanings of the same polysemic word. Thus Paul D. Deane asserts that the different meanings of the same polysemic words are usually related and that their common origin can be experimentally documented (Deane, 1988: 325). The cognitive linguist Barbara Lewandowska Tomaszczkyk points out that the main criterion for determining whether a word is polysemic or homonymic is the historic relatedness between identical forms of words. Identical forms with historically related meanings are considered to be polysemic, while words that are identical in form due to a historical reason but whose meanings are etymologically unrelated are considered to be homonyic (Lewandowska Tomaszczkyk in Geeraerts and Cuyckens, 2007: 142). Dictionaries usually provide information on the polysemic/homonymic character of entries. In this manner, words of identical form but of different origin are treated as homonymous by dictionary writers and are, accordingly, given separate entries in dictionaries. On the other hand, if it is known that identical forms of words have one origin, they are considered to be polysemic and are given a single entry in the dictionary (Palmer, 1995: 102). Some words may appear, as pointed out by Palmer, to have unrelated meanings despite the fact they historically have the same origin. These include pupil (=student) and the pupil of the eye, or the sole (of a shoe) and the fish sole (Palmer, 1995: 102). Contrary to the words that share origin despite apparently unrelated meanings, there are words which we tend to connect in spite of the lack of historical proof. Thus we tend to perceive the ear of the body and the ear of corn as polysemes, although etymologists claim that they do not have the same origin and therefore should be treated as homonyms. Palmer further argues that we are led to see an etymological relation between the ear of the body and the ear of corn because we are influenced by similar examples of the foot as a part of the body and the foot of a bed/mountain or the hands and face (parts of the body) and hands and face of a clock (Palmer, 1995: 102). The examples of the hands and face of a clock or the foot of a bed/mountain function as metaphorical transfers of the hands, face and the foot onto the body. Cognitive scientists understand these transformations as extensions of the central meaning of words and treat them as instances of polysemy (Lewandowska Tomaszcyk in Geeraerts and Cuyckens, 2007:140). 3 HOMOPHONY Homophones arise when words share the same pronunciation, but differ in spelling; for example, sight and site, and court and caught are spelt differently, but pronounced in the same way (Palmer, 1995: 101). However, homophones do not necessarily originate from different sources. Palmer provides the examples of historically related words mettle and metal and flour and flower (1995: 103). 4.1 Homophony in English and Croatian Jokes Homophony is quite common in English jokes since it includes the element of surprise. Unrelated areas of life are brought together by homophony, thereby achieving a humourous effect based on ambiguity: Customer: Waiter, what is the thing that I m eating? Waiter: Its bean soup, Sir. Customer: I dont want to know what its been , I want to know what it is now. The English language abounds in homophones and many jokes are based on humour that originates from an identical pronunciation but different spelling of individual words. Croatian jokes are not based on homonymy due to the fact that the main orthographic rule of the Croatian standard language is Write as you speak.. Due to this, there is no difference between the spelling and pronunciation of words (apart from examples that result from consonantal changes related to word formation), as each letter represents solely one sound (phoneme). Prior to drawing parallels between jokes based on polysemy and homonymy in English and Croatian, we shall briefly refer to the problem of the semantic development of children in the context of understanding, telling and creating jokes based on polysemy and homonymy. 5 THE FUNCTION OF JOKES BASED ON POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY IN THE SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN In their article The Function of Polysemous Jokes and Riddles in Semantic Development, the cognitive psychologists Brigitte Nerlich, Zazie Todd and David D. Clarke give an overview of the developmental stages of children aged 3 to 6.5 in the context of understanding, telling and creating jokes and riddles based on polysemy and homonymy and, to a lesser extent, on homophony. The reasearch is based on the case study of Nerlich and Clarkes six-and-a-half-yearold son Matthew. 5.1 Stages of Semantic Development The authors claim that children gradually acquire these abilities through four stages: 1) the development of a taste for (arbitrary or random) incongruities (around age 3), 2) the acquisition of the bipartite structure of a joke/riddle (approximately 4 years of age) , 3) filling jokes with more acceptable (meaningful) incongruities (around age 6) and 4) the ability to understand, tell and create jokes based on multiple meanings, which children acquire at the age 7+ (Nerlich, Todd, Clarke, 1998: 346). A typical instance of humour based on polysemy for the first stage of development is the situation where one cartoon character addresses another by saying: Give me a hand, upon which the second character throws his hand to the first character (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1998: 346). The second stage is characterised by a developing awareness of polysemy. Polysemous jokes are still based on arbitrary incongruities (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1998: 347): A: What is on top of a fire engine? B: A tree stump! In the third phase jokes become more sophisticated as they are based on meaningful incongruities (ex. Why did the teacher wear sun-glasses? Because her class was so bright.). At stage four children freely resort to polysemy in their utterances (After having been reprimanded for swearing, Matthew answered: I never swear, Mummy, unless its in the sense of I promise.). 5.2 Polysemy and Homonymy as Seen by Cognitive Science Nerlich, Todd and Clarke differentiate between three types of semantic jokes: jokes playing with polysemes, jokes playing with homonyms and jokes playing with homophones (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1997: 352). The authors warn that in many cases it is diffult to determine whether a joke is based on polysemy or homonymy. Thus, claim the authors, most people do not recognise a metonymic link in the following joke: Why do cows wear bells?- Because their horns dont work (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1998: 353). While modern speakers, assert the authors, fail to notice the etymological link between horn as the outgrowth from the head of an animal and horn as a musical instrument, they do tend to establish a metaphorical link between ear as a part of the body and ear of corn (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1998: 352) despite the fact that these meanings originate from diverse sources, i.e. German Ohr and hre. Cognitive science does not draw a strict line between polysemy and homonymy since it perceives homonymy as pointing to the outer limits of polysemy (Nerlich, Todd and Clarke, 1998: 351). 6 POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY: A CROSS  SEMANTIC VARIATION As stated earlier, jokes based on polysemy and homonymy are equally widespread in English and Croatian, whereas jokes based on homophony are typical for English but not Croatian. The differences in polysemous jokes are mostly based on different conceptualisations, which will be illustrated in the following example: Obraa se jedna plavuaa drugoj: Joa mogu shvatiti kako roda mo~e donijeti dijete, ali nikako ne mogu shvatiti kako pauk mo~e odnijeti automobil.( Eng. A blonde is addressing another blonde: I can just about understand how a stork could carry a baby, but its beyond my imagination how a towing vehicle (pauk) could tow away a car). The failure of English speakers to understand this joke lies in the different conceptualisation of the towing vehicle: in Croatian the word with a core meaning, pauk (meaning spider) obtains, through metaphorical transfers, another meaning, the towing vehicle. The Croats, likewise, come accross two different meanings of the word horn in the English joke. Croatian, unlike English, has two different words for horn: rog in the sense of an outgrowth from the head of an animal and truba in the sense of a musical instrument. However, there are many cases of similarities in conceptualisation. Thus time is conceptualised as a moving agent and is attributed with a capability to fly: Why did the blonde throw her watch? - To see how time flies. To sum up, the main reasons for semantic variation between jokes in English and Croatian lie in differing conceptualisations of words in jokes based on polysemy/homonymy and in differing relations between spelling and pronunciation in jokes based on homophony. 7 BENEFITS OF HUMOUR BASED ON POLYSEMY/HOMONYMY Apart from establishing a good atmosphere in class, these jokes bring multiple benefits to students. Humour can be utilized to its fullest potential if students feel free to tell jokes and laugh at other peoples jokes. Learning in a less formal environment makes them feel relaxed and aids foreign language acquisition. Moreover, humour encourages creativity amongst students since they are able to play with the language. Instruct4P56dl@It"y"""""""####$$%%-%2%7%<%T%Y%^%b%%%%%%%%%%%%%&&&&&&&&Z'`'d'h'n's'x'~'O(h6]mHsHh6mHsHhhmHsHh5\mHsH h5\Q4P PQ$ & Fa$$`a$$ Sa$$7`7a$ 7$a$M  :<56  &&$`a$$7`7a$ $T|^T`|a$$ S^`a$$ S7^`7a$ $^`a$ $7^`7a$$a$$ & Fa$&&&(((((|)})))* *-- / /j/k/M1N1q1r1$a$ $S^S`a$ 0^`0$7`7a$$`a$$ Sa$O(U(Z(_(d(i(n(t(((})))))))))) * /j/|//N1r17686:6Z6[6\6^6m66777778{88888899::q:v:::::;;;;;;;<<=?@@'BBh6\]mHsHh6]mHsHh5\mHsHh5mHsHh56mHsHhhmHsHh6mHsHGr1m3n36676[6l6m67788<<:=<=??*B+B8D9DDDEEF$ Sa$$a$$`a$$7`7a$BBBB C.CvCzCCCCCDD DDDEFNFHXlXXXXXXYZZbZ}ZZZ[[._:_ccdhhhhhh5\mHsH h5\Uhh6]mHsHhmHsHh6mHsH.FFNFOFGGYYZbZZZ[[-_._9_:___``a h^h`$ Sa$$a$$ & Fa$$7`7a$ S$`a$ional benefits are immense. The teacher can resort to humour when introducing new vocabulary. Thus the joke Why did the crab get arrested? Because she was pinching things can introduce a metaphorical meaning of the verb pinch meaning steal. Grammatical categories can also be introduced or revised. A few ideas for warm up activities when introducing/revising grammatical categories are provided: adverbs and adjectives : I wouldnt say shes pretty and I wouldnt say shes ugly. Id say shes pretty ugly. (in)transitive verbs: Somebody has got a dog with no nose. How does it smell? - Horrible. The Present Perfect tense: Waiter, what is it that Im eating? Its bean soup, Sir. Im not asking what its been, I want to know what it is now. CONCLUSION Humour is a very important factor in the context of learning a foreign language, especially at an early age. Many jokes in both English and Croatian are based on polysemy and homonymy, while homophony is specific for English humour. Homonymy is not strictly divided from polysemy by cognitive scientists, who view metaphorical meanings of a word as extensions of the central meaning of the word. A crosssemantic comparison of English and Croatian jokes based on polysemy and homonymy indicates that the differences arise in the conceptualisation of a referent, while jokes based on homophony in English outline the specific relation between words that are pronounced in the same way but spelt differently. There are also examples of similar conceptualizations in English and Croatian. The benefits of introducing humour based on polysemy, homonymy and homophony in English classes are numerous and include establishing a relaxed atmosphere in class, introducing new lexical and grammatical categories and developing oral and written skills, to name only a few. REFERENCES [1] Deane, P.D. (1988). Polysemy and Cognition. Lingua, 75, pp. 325-361. [2] Ili, M. (1987). Sociologija kulture i umetnosti. Beograd: Nau na knjiga. [3] Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (2007). 'Polysemy, Prototypes and Radial Models'. In: D. Geeraerts; H. Cuyckens (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, pp. 140-169. [4] Matijevi, M. (1994). Humor u nastavi. Zagreb: UNA-MTV d.o.o. [5] Moon, J. (2000). Children Learning English. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann. [6] Nerlich, B.; Todd, Z.; Clarke, D.D. (1998). The Function of Polysemous Jokes and Riddles in Semantic Developmaabbcc=h>hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh$a$$`a$$ Sa$ h^h`ent. Current Psychology of Cognition, 17 (2), pp. 343-365. [7] Palmer, F.R. ( 1995). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ,1h. 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