File, Kieran A. and Schnurr, Stephanie (2019) That match was “a bit like losing your virginity”. Failed humour, face and identity construction in TV interviews with professional athletes and coaches. Journal of Pragmatics, 152 . pp. 132-144. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2018.10.012 ISSN 0378-2166.
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Abstract
This paper explores the under-researched topic of failed humour in the context of public-facing media interactions. While most previous pragmatics research has focused on the support strategies employed by conversational partners when classifying humour attempts as successful or failed, this paper acknowledges that in public facing media interactions, the participation framework is more complex, raising interesting questions about how and to what extent humour can be seen to succeed or fail.
Employing a socio-pragmatic approach, we aim to highlight the complexity of humour in public-facing interactions, by drawing on media interviews with professional athletes and coaches. Our analysis illustrates how humour attempts can simultaneously succeed and fail with different members of the broader participation framework. However, our particular focus is the implications of failed humour in this context on identity construction. Considering that an attempt at humour is also an attempt to make certain identity claims, any humour that fails has potentially detrimental effects on identity construction. This is perhaps more problematic in public-facing media interactions, where failed humour is particularly face-threatening and may challenge the public image of those who attempted the humour.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BD Speculative Philosophy G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Athletes -- Humor -- In mass media, Coaches (Athletics) -- Humor -- In mass media, Identity (Philosophical concept) |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Pragmatics |
| Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
| ISSN: | 0378-2166 |
| Official Date: | October 2019 |
| Dates: | Date Event October 2019 Published 23 November 2018 Available 20 October 2018 Accepted |
| Volume: | 152 |
| Page Range: | pp. 132-144 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.pragma.2018.10.012 |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 27 November 2018 |
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 23 November 2019 |
| URI: | https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/111217/ |
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