Understanding humor in Temel jokes: Insights from conversation analysis, conversational maxims, and speech act theory

What we find pleasurable and funny, or in its broader sense, what we laugh at can often be regarded as ‘humor’. Therefore, humor represents one of the main aspects of everyday interactions. Consequently, the issues like the reasons of laughter and what constitutes humor have been questioned since Plato and Aristotle. One reason that humor has come out as a theatrical form is the pleasure people take in laughing. Indeed, one of the most significant reflectors of humor in language is jokes. This study aims at analyzing and describing the linguistic features of humor in Temel Jokes, a cultural figure in Anatolia, regarding Conversation Analysis, Conversational Maxims and Speech Act Theory. 20 randomly chosen jokes of Temel were determined as the database of the study. In terms of Conversation Analysis, these jokes were studied in terms of turn taking and adjacency pairs; in terms of Speech Act analysis, Austin’s performative speech acts and the framework of Finegan and Besnier based on Searle’s study were made use of. The results showed that turn-by-turn allocation of speeches are dominant in Temel jokes and the humor in these jokes can be said to be created mainly by means of the violation of maxims and less likely by obeying to the maxims. Moreover, answers to the questions; assertions; statements and descriptions were significantly observed in Temel jokes and together with illocutionary acts that are mostly seen in the jokes, these acts also play a significant role in creating humor.

Keywords: Humor language, Temel jokes, Conversation analysis, Conversational maxims, Speech act theory