Comedic convergence: Humor responses to verbal irony in text messages

Abstract

Mode adoption is a term used primarily in pragmatics and linguistics which refers to responses to verbal irony that: a.) converge with (or ‘adopt’) the humor frame and, b.) add a similar element of ironic humor. This paper argues that mode adoption is a form of high-level accommodation. In order to mode adopt, respondents must converge with the speaker's verbal content, their humorous intent, as well as the form this intent is taking. Respondents can, therefore, display convergence/divergence along each of these dimensions with each response to verbal irony falling along a scale of humor convergence. Scholars have suggested that differences in mode adoption may be based on familiarity between the speakers, however, this hypothesis has not been tested experimentally, and CAT has not been directly applied in this context. Over two studies, (N = 430) participants were asked to think of a specific person from their life and type exactly how they would respond to instances of ironic overstatement from this person in a hypothetical text message interaction. Regression analyses revealed that perceived relational closeness predicted humor convergence in study two but not study one. Awareness of the irony was significant predictor of convergence in study one, a finding not replicated in study two. In line with previous CAT research, liking and relative power were also found to predict convergence in humor. These studies provide support for CAT within the domain of humor in texting, clarify important predictors for humor convergence, and argue that definitions of accommodation should explicitly include both behavioral and cognitive elements of communication.