Discourse analysis: humor in conversation II

Abstract

The second part of the discussion of humor in conversation focuses on the functions of humor in conversation and thus has more of a discourse analysis (DA) focus. The work of major DA scholars in humor is examined. Conversational humor is examined in several settings, including conversations among friends, medical encounters, and the workplace. Work in corpus-based DA is also discussed. Several issues in DA of humor are addressed, including how do speakers negotiate the humorous intention, how they identify humor, how humor turns may be sustained (last several turns) and finally cases in which humor fails.