Sp410/510: Humor in Everyday Talk
Winter Quarter, 2008 (on-line)
<>web page: http://www.pdx.edu/user/~cgrd/.
This is a fully on-line class, intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. No prior knowledge of the humor literature is assumed.
Readings: All readings will be available in on-line reserves.
The class will be conducted in an asynchronous on-line seminar format. Students will be assigned to smaller discussion groups, and are expected to participate fully and in good faith: follow the on-line discussions in their group, read all other group-members’ postings, and respond in detail in at least two separate threads each week. Students should expect to spend 3-4 hours per week reading and posting in their discussion groups. During the first week of classes, each student will post a self-introduction on WebCT, including your interest in the class. No later than the second week of class each student should post a humorous comment or exchange from a real-life conversation (not simply the telling of a scripted or “canned” joke). These should be posted simultaneously both in the student’s discussion group and in the designated “humorous exchanges” thread that is open to the entire class. They will provide material for class discussions throughout the quarter.
Weekly on-line assignments.
Each week, each student will prepare an abstract of the assigned readings for the coming week, length 15-30 lines, and post it in their discussion-group thread by Monday 8:00 a.m. The abstract should summarize the key points from the reading, with examples drawn from real life, and identify any unanswered questions in the student’s mind.
Each week the students in each discussion group will discuss the week’s reading assignment. In addition to the abstract, each student will be expected to post at least three times each week. A student may initiate a new discussion thread by raising issues with the assigned readings, discussing how the ideas presented in the current week’s reading assignment applies to everyday conversation, or how the material relates to concepts and theories learned in other classes. At least two postings each week should respond to questions or issues raised in other students’ postings, or to questions or issues I may raise in my own postings. (Always quote what you are responding to, so readers will know what you are talking about.)
The initial posting should be no later than 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, and all three discussion postings must be posted no later than 8:00 a.m. Saturday. Each of the required discussion postings should ordinarily be at least 12 lines long; all postings should be in grammatical English (complete sentences etc.). I will assign provisional grades to each student for each week, based on the abstract and the participation in the group’s on-line discussion, but these are subject to revision when I assess the student’s overall participation at the end of the quarter. Note: Every student is expected to read all postings in the assigned discussion-group. Evidence that a student has merely skimmed a couple of postings prior to posting responses will lead to a reduction in the grade for that week.
Term Paper – all students. May be submitted as a hard copy in my box in the Communication Department office or e-mail in Word to cgrd@pdx.edu.
Every student will write a research paper (students may work in groups of up to three). Students will obtain and analyze transcripts of a conversation that includes extended examples of humorous exchanges (puns, quips, humorous insults, personal stories, etc.). The conversation may be a “peer group conversation” facilitated by a team of 2-4 students working together, within the instructor’s current research program (instructions for obtaining consent and conducting the conversations will be posted under “course content”). Students may also use a conversation they have previously recorded and transcribed for a different class. Samples from on-line conversations, or casual conversations within a family or group of friends, may be used with prior permission of the instructor and all participants. The analysis should discuss the humorous exchanges in terms of theories and concepts from the assigned readings, and should also discuss how the humorous exchange appears to have affected both the relationships among participants and the flow of conversation itself. All papers should cite several of the assigned readings.
For undergraduates: Recommended length about 10-15 pages if working alone; 20-25 pages if submitting a group paper. Due no later than March 10.
For graduate students: Recommended length is 20-25 pages. Graduate student papers should include detailed critique and synthesis of at least one of the theories we will cover in class, and should include a literature review that goes beyond the readings assigned in the course.
Completed drafts of graduate student papers will be posted on-line for peer review and critique by March 1. I will assign two other graduate students to read and critique each student’s paper, and provide recommendations for improvement; these critiques are to be posted on-line no later than March 5. Final papers, incorporating revisions in response to the critiques, should be submitted no later than March 12.
Note to graduate students: If you are working on a thesis proposal with a topic relevant to this class, the literature review and research paper may written as part of your proposal.
Exams: There
will also be a mid-term and final
exam, both on-line.
Grades: Grades will be based on the quality of the student’s WebCT postings as well as on the exams and papers. Good faith participation in the on-line discussion is essential. If you encounter scheduling difficulties due to illness, work or family obligations, or technological malfunctions, please contact me as soon as you are aware of the problem.
Schedule of Topics
and Readings
1. January 7. Introductions.
All students are expected to read this syllabus in detail, post self-introductions on their discussion group thread, and get started on the second week’s reading assignment (due 8:00 a.m. Monday, January 14).
2. January 14. Aggression Theory.
Zillmann, D., and Cantor, J. R. (1976). A disposition theory of humor and mirth. Pp. 93-115 in Chapman, T., and Foot, H (eds.), Humor and laughter: Theory, research, and applications. London: Wiley.
3. January 21. Incongruity approaches.
Raskin, V., and Attardo, S. (1994). Non-literalness and non-bona-fide in language: An approach to formal and computational treatments of humor. Pragmatics & Cognition, 2(1), 31-69.
Perlmutter, D. D. (2002). On incongruities and logical inconsistencies in humor: The delicate balance. Humor, 15, 155-168.
4. January 28. Social Structure; frame-shifting.
Gibbs, R. W., Jr., and Izett, C. D. (2005). Irony as persuasive communication. Pp. 131-152 in Colston, H. L., and Katz, A. N. (Eds.), Figurative language comprehension: Social and cultural influences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Ritchie, D. (2005). Frame-shifting in Humor and Irony. Metaphor and Symbol, 20, 275-294. (On my own web-page.)
5. February 4. Relevance
Yus, F. (2003). Humor and the search for relevance. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 1295-1331.
6. February 11. Humor and conversation
Norrick, N. R. (2003). Issues in conversational joking. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 1333-1359.
Norrick, N. (2001). On the conversational performance of narrative jokes: Toward an account of timing. Humor, 14, 255-274.
7. February 18. Humor and conversation II
Hay, J. (2001). The pragmatics of humor support. Humor, 14, 55-82.
8. February 25. Humor and group process
Fine, G. A., and DeSoucey, M. (2005). Joking cultures: Humor themes as social regulation in group life. Humor, 18, 1-21.
<>Holmes, J., and Marra, M. (2002). Over the edge? Subversive humor between colleagues and friends. Humor, 15, 65-87.
Plester, Barbara A. and Sayers, Janet. (2007). “Taking the piss”: Functions of banter in the IT industry. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research; 2007, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p157-187, 31p
<>Everts, E. (2003). Identifying a particular family humor style: A sociolinguistic discourse analysis. Humor, 16, 369-412.
<>