Taiwanese Aboriginal Humor and Language Play Strategies at Public Speaking Events

Humor and language play rely upon knowledge and intelligence. Humor and language play strategies have been relatively studied but not in relation to indigenous people. This study will explore the humor and language play... [ view full abstract ]

Humor and language play rely upon knowledge and intelligence. Humor and language play strategies have been relatively studied but not in relation to indigenous people. This study will explore the humor and language play applied by Taiwanese aboriginal people when public speaking. In particular, this study will use public speaking data gathered from the harvest festivals of the two biggest Taiwanese aboriginal tribes (Pangcah and Paiwan) in eastern Taiwan. The discourses of the hosts will be looked at closely to understand how the aboriginal elite utilizes humor strategies and language play to achieve particular social functions during the festival process. This study will also focus on the social functions underpinning the creation of humor and language play, such as tension reduction and maintenance of social order (Apte, 1985), public entertainment, solidarity, and empowerment, to name a few. The data used will include spoken data transcriptions of the aboriginal elite during their hosting of the festivals, together with interview data with the hosts (both intellectual and activist elites) that will serve as the data used to conduct further analyses. The chosen approach will analyze the discourses using ethnographic descriptions and discourse analysis, thus enabling an understanding of how the various discourses frame social and cultural meanings in aboriginal rituals.

Key words: aboriginal elite, discourse analysis, humor, language play, harvest festival

Reference:

Apte, M. L (1985). Humor and laughter: An anthropological approach. Ithaca, NY: Connell University Press.