Analysis of Language Play in Online Jokes.

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i Maranatha Christian University

Untuk memperdalam pembahasan, selain menggunakan Teori Permainan Bahasa dan proses-proses linguistik, saya juga menggunakan Teori Inkongruitas. Teori ini mengemukakan tentang adanya perbedaan antara ekspektasi atau perkiraan pembaca ketika membaca suatu lelucon dan akhir cerita yang dituliskan oleh si pengarang dalam leluconnya. Perbedaan inilah yang menyebabkan kelucuan dalam lelucon tersebut.

Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa data yang saya dapatkan dari Internet semuanya menggunakan Teori Inkongruitas ini. Selain itu, semua data juga menunjukkan adanya permainan bahasa dengan memanipulasi beberapa proses linguistik, misalnya homonim dan homofon.

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45 Maranatha Christian University

APPENDIX

The language play and linguistic features that are found in the data are as follow:

No. Data Language Play

Linguistic Feature

Homonym Homophone

Phoneme Substitution

Juncture

1. Baskin Robbins

Two robins were lying on their backs, basking in the sun. A mama cat and her kitten were walking by. The kitten complained, “Mama, I’m sooo hungry, what can we eat?” to which mama cat, spying the two robins, replied, “How about some Baskin

Robbins?”

basking robins: two robins basking in the sun

Baskin Robbins: ice cream

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46 Maranatha Christian University 2. S-car go!

There was once a snail who was sick and tired of his reputation for being so slow. He decided to get some fast wheels to make up the difference. After shopping around for a while, he decided that the Datsun 240-Z was the car to get. So the snail goes to the nearest Datsun dealer and says he wants to buy the 240-Z, but he wants it repainted “240-S”. The dealer asks, “Why ‘S’?” The snail replies, “‘S’

stands for snail. I want everybody who sees me roaring past to know who’s driving.” Well, the dealer doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to sell a car to a

snail, so he agrees to have the car repainted for a small fee. The snail gets his new car and spent the rest of his days roaring happily down the highway at the top speed. And whenever anyone would see

S-car go: snail’s

car

Escargot: snail

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47 Maranatha Christian University him zooming by, they’d say, “Wow! Look at that

S-car go!”

3. Disney Land

There was a blonde who was taking her kids to Disney Land. When they were about half way there, the blonde saw a sign that said "Disney Land Left," so the blonde turned back around and went home.

Left: turn left

Left: leave



4. Animal Crackers

A mother and her young son returned from the grocery store and began putting away the groceries. The boy opened a box of animal crackers and spread them all over the table. "What are you doing?" his mother asked. "The box says you can't eat them if the seal is broken," the Boy explained, so "I'm looking for the seal!"

Seal: a piece of paper that is placed across the opening of the box and has to be broken before box can be opened

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48 Maranatha Christian University Seal: a sea animal

5. Positive

Two atoms are walking down the street and they run into each other. One says to the other, "Are you all right?" "No, I lost an electron!" "Are you sure?" Yeah, I'm positive!"

Positive:

completely sure

Positive:

containing the type of electricity

carried by a proton



6. Bug flew into a barn

A farmer was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling his head. Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The farmer didn't think much about it, until the bug squirted out into his bucket. It went in one ear and out the udder.

Udder: a part of cow’s body that

produces milk

Other: a part of an idiom; go in one

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49 Maranatha Christian University ear and out the

other 7. A way to save your marriage

A young husband with an inferiority complex insisted he was just a little pebble on a vast beach. The marriage counselor, trying to be creative, told him, “If you wish to save your marriage, you'd better

be a little boulder.” Afterward he asked her how she liked the game. “I liked it, but I couldn't understand why they were killing each other for 25 cents,” she said.

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50 Maranatha Christian University 9. Prison Carpenter

Several years ago, Andy was sentenced to prison. During his stay, he got along well with the guards and all his fellow inmates. The warden saw that deep down, Andy was a good person and made arrangements for Andy to learn a trade while doing his time.

After 3 years, Andy was recognized as one of the best carpenters in the local area. Often he would be given a weekend pass to do odd jobs for the citizens of the community, and he always reported back to prison before Sunday night was over.

The warden was thinking of remodeling his kitchen and in fact had done much of the work himself. But he lacked the skills to build a set of kitchen

Counter fitting: fitting a counter

Counterfeiting: making an exact copy of something and tricking people into believing it is the real thing

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51 Maranatha Christian University cupboards and a large counter top which he had

promised his wife. So he called Andy into his office and asked him to complete the job for him. But, alas, Andy refused. He told the warden, “Gosh, I’d

really like to help you but counter fitting is what got me into prison in the first place.”

10. The Day of the Final

It was time for the final and the student depending upon getting at least one right answer on the chemistry test.

The question was “If H2O if water, what is H2O4?”

This was a quick question for most, but it took the student some thinking time. Finally, he wrote down his answer: For drinking, washing, and cleaning.

H2O4: dihydrogen tetraoxide

H2O4: H2O for



11. ABC

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52 Maranatha Christian University scared of doing them in front of the class. The

teacher, though, told him that the best way to conquer his fears would be to just go ahead and do it. So, trembling, he stood in front of the class and began.

“ABCDEFGHIJLKMNOQRSTUVWXYZ.”

“"Very good, Wilfred. But you forgot the P. Where's

the P?”

“It's running down my leg.”

P: the 16th letter in the alphabet

P: pee

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12. Winning Nobel Prize

A man is driving down a country road, when he spots a farmer standing in the middle of a huge field of grass. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and notices that the farmer is just standing there, doing nothing, looking at nothing.

The man gets out of the car, walks all the way out to

Outstanding: excellent, important

Out standing: standing out on

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53 Maranatha Christian University the farmer and asks him, “Ah excuse me mister, but

what are you doing?”

The farmer replies, “I’m trying to win a Nobel Prize.” ‘How?’ asks the man, puzzled.

“Well, I heard they give the Nobel Prize… to people

who are out standing in their field.”

something

Field: a particular subject or study

Field: an area of land used for growing crops

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Humans smile or laugh if they are given something that makes them happy. It may be good things that happen to them, or they may receive good news, or maybe they simply hear or read something that is funny or hilarious like a silly story or a joke. A joke, which is “something that you say or do to make people laugh, for example a funny story that you tell” (“Joke,” entry 1a) can be in

the oral or written form. Therefore, the manipulation or the exploitation of word sounds and word spellings can be very useful in creating a joke. The following is a joke I have created to explain how the manipulation works:

A father was concerned about the condition of his daughter who recently had become the victim of sexual abuse. His friend gave him a pamphlet and said to the father that the guy mentioned in the pamphlet would be able to help his daughter. So, the father went home and showed the pamphlet to his daughter. The father surely did not expect her

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2 Maranatha Christian University daughter. “Why?” asked the father. “Have you read the pamphlet

carefully?” shouted his wife, “It says: ‘Dr. Fred Lawrence, THERAPIST!’”

The joke above may not be understood by some people, unless they observe it more carefully. In the joke above, the writer uses language play by manipulating linguistic features of a particular word and presents it in such a way that it concludes the joke and eventually makes it funny. The word that is played is therapist, and the linguistic feature that is manipulated creates a homograph. Homograph is a word that has the same spelling as that of other words but it has different meaning and pronunciation. The word therapist in the joke above means “a specialist who treats a particular type of illness or problem, or who uses a

particular type of treatment” (“Therapist,” def. 1). However, the daughter misunderstands it and she reads it as the rapist which means a person who rapes someone (“Rapist”). From the condition of the daughter that is presented in the joke, it is not strange that she has mistaken the word and becomes terrified. She thinks that her father will take her to a rapist; but actually, her father is trying to help her by taking her to a therapist.

Through the language play like that in the example, the authors or the writers of jokes can give amusement and hilarity to their jokes and make people laugh. Playing with language means “we take some linguistic feature – such as a

word, a phrase, a sentence, a part of a word, a group of sounds, a series of letters – and make it do things it does not normally do” (Crystal 1). Based on what

Crystal said, we can see that even a word can play an important role in a joke to make people laugh if its linguistic features are manipulated.

I am really interested in analyzing this kind of joke in which the writer uses language play. Therefore, I have decided to choose the topic of this thesis

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3 Maranatha Christian University some websites in the Internet. These data are then sorted out so that the rest are only be the jokes that contain language play in them.

The reason for my choosing this topic is that I am always interested in words and how they can be manipulated in such ways that they give or show other meanings that are completely different from their actual meanings. Another reason is that jokes are fun to be read and analyzed, and jokes that contain manipulated words are more fun to be analyzed linguistically. Reading jokes that contain language play is quite interesting because the readers are challenged to understand and grasp the meaning of the joke and see the funny side of the joke through the play of the language. However, what is even more challenging is for the joke writers to write more jokes that contain language play. The writers of such jokes need to have a good mastery of the language so that they may be able to manipulate words, phrases, or sentences, and direct them to “do things it

does not normally do” (Crystal 1).

This topic is significant because it would make people aware of the language play used in the jokes that makes people laugh. The discussion on this topic can also be useful for both other joke writers and joke readers. Other joke writers may be helped to write more jokes after learning the analysis of some jokes in this thesis, whereas joke readers will have a better understanding about the jokes.

As stated in the topic, I will analyze jokes based on the kinds of language play that are used in the jokes. The play on the language can be in many forms; for example, language play that deals with homonymy, which is “different words with the same form” (Lyons 55), or synonymy, which means “words or

expressions that have the same meanings in some or all contexts” (O’Grady 269). Also, the play can make use of words or phrases that rhyme with others.

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4 Maranatha Christian University 1.2 Statement of the Problem

Based on the topic that I choose, I would like to discuss the following problems:

1. What type of language play is used in each of the jokes in the data? 2. How does the joke writer manipulate or exploit the linguistic feature of

a word to create the language play?

3. How does the language play produce the humor?

1.3 Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is:

1. To know the type of language play used in each of the jokes in the data.

2. To find out how the joke writer manipulates or exploits the linguistic feature of a word to create the language play.

3. To find out how the language play produces the humor.

1.4 Method of Research

There are five steps that I used in writing this thesis. First I learned the theories of language play and the Theory of Incongruity to support my analysis later on. Second, I searched for the jokes on some websites in the Internet.

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5 Maranatha Christian University with the intention simply to make the readers happy. These jokes may not contain manipulations or exploitations of linguistic features. To serve the purpose of this study, therefore, I looked only for the jokes containing linguistic feature manipulations or exploitations.

Third, after I found a joke that met the criteria, which is the manipulation or exploitation of linguistic features, I read it and predicted how the joke would end. If the end was not as predicted, then the joke was chosen to be analyzed. The next step is finding the rule in order to explain why the joke was funny. Finally, I wrote the research report.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to conclude all the analysis of the data in the previous chapter. The conclusion that is presented in this chapter will encompass all the findings based on the analysis which answers the statement of the problem presented in Chapter One. There are 12 jokes as the data in the previous chapter and all of them contain language play. From the data, it can be seen that the linguistic features that are mostly altered are homonyms and homophones. There are five homonyms, six homophones, two phoneme substitutions, and one juncture.

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38 Maranatha Christian University Phoneme substitution and juncture are not easy to be used as the source of language play. Phoneme substitution is, in fact, an ability that is acquired by children in their language development. It is a skill needed by them to understand and differentiate each phoneme that consist a word and what will happen if a phoneme in a set of phonemes is substituted. This skill is taught to the children by playing on the language, for example making a poem or a song that includes phoneme substitutions in it. However, to play with this skill and include it in a joke is not as easy as making it into a song or a poem. A joke is a funny story and thus, needs to be coherent.

As for juncture, in my opinion, this linguistic feature is much more difficult to play with. The study of juncture is quite broad and there are many types of it. However, despite the extensive area, to play with this feature in a joke is somehow limited. As it is related with “phonetic boundary” (Crystal 258) then the

morpheme, word, or sentence is solely depended on it. Thus, the reason that phoneme substitution is also difficult to play with may also apply to this linguistic feature, in which a joke is a funny story that needs to be coherent.

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39 Maranatha Christian University more than one language play is quite tricky since they are compelled to seek the rules that make the joke funny. If they are able to find only one rule or one language play form in a joke that has more than one language play form in it, maybe they will find that the joke is not really funny. However, if they manage to find all language play forms in the joke, they may understand all the humor in the joke.

All the analyzed jokes in the previous chapter have language play in it. All of them also have quite an unexpected ending that is resulted from the presence of the language play in those jokes. Thus, in relation to the definition of the Theory of Incongruity, the humor of a joke can be found in the discrepancy between what the readers expect and what is purposed by the writer. The discrepancy is the rule that gives the humor, and it is found in the play on the language that is done by the writer. Therefore, the language play is the rule that makes the ending of the jokes unexpected and thus needs to be found to understand the jokes. The Incongruity Theory is often present in making a joke. The unexpected ending that is discrepant with what the readers perceive is the key to make the joke funny.

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40 Maranatha Christian University their language in their jokes or stories. In my opinion, these writers or authors have achieved a wonderful accomplishment and deserve appreciation.

Language play in jokes is a very interesting topic to be analyzed. However, seeing that jokes that contain language play are not very common, one had better not limit his/her analysis only on jokes. Analyzing other kinds of text that contain language play, riddles for example (I found many riddles on the Internet that contain language play and they are worthy to be analyzed), can be challenging since riddles generally have shorter forms than jokes. The most important thing in analyzing language play is that one needs to be imaginative too in order to understand the manipulation and exploitation of the linguistic features in the work.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Apriany. The Translation of Language Play from English into Chinese in Schulz’s Snoopy. Bandung: English Department, Faculty of Letters, Maranatha

Christian University, 2011. Print.

Chandra, Shelvy Silviany. Analysis of Language Play in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Bandung: English Department, Faculty of

Letters, Maranatha Christian University, 2007. Print.

Cook, Guy. Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.

Crystal, David. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 6th ed. USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Print.

Crystal, David. Language Play. England: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.

Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. London: Penguin Group, 1998. Print.

Dahl, Roald. The BFG. London: Penguin Group, 1998. Print.

Dr. Seuss. Green Eggs and Ham. USA: Random House, 1988. Print.

Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to Language. 6th ed. Florida: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. Print.

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42 Maranatha Christian University Lyons, John. Linguistic Semantics, An Introduction. Great Britain: Cambridge

University Press, 1995. Print.

McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Print.

McGhee, Paul E. and Jeffrey H. Goldstein. Handbook of Humor Research. Springer – Verlag, 1983. Print.

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“A Way to Save Your Marriage.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. February 2012.

“ABC.” Comedy Central, Jokes about Kids. n.p., n.d. Web. 28 October 2013.

“Animal Crackers.” Jokes Galore. n.p., n.d. Web. February 2012.

“Baskin Robbins.” 101 Fun Jokes, Fast Food Joke. n.p., n.d. Web. February

2012.

“Baskin Robbins: About Us.” Baskin Robbins. Baskin Robbins®. n.d. Web. 1 May

2013.

“Bug Flew into a Barn.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. February 2012.

“Datsun 240-Z.” Car and Driver. Hearst Communications, Inc., n.d. Web. 3

December 2013.

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43 Maranatha Christian University “Phoneme Substitution.” Speech-Language-Development.com. n.p., n.d. Web. 31

January 2014.

“Phonemic Awareness Instruction.” Put Reading First. CIERA. September 2001.

Web. 31 January 2014.

“Positive.” Radford. Ibarland, n.d. Web. February 2012.

“Prison Carpenter.” Comedy Central, Work Jokes. n.p., n.d. Web. 28 October

2013.

“Quarterback.” howstuffworks, Entertainment. HowStuffWorks, Inc., n.d. Web. 28

October 2013.

“S-car Go.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. February 2012.

“She’s New to Football.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. 28 October 2013.

“The Day of the Final.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. 28 October 2013.

“The Nobel Foundation: A Century of Growth and Change.” Nobelprize.org.

Nobel Media AB, n.d. Web. 3 December 2013.

“Winning Nobel Prize.” Ahajokes. n.p., n.d. Web. 28 October 2013.

Dictionary Entries

“Atom.” Dictionary of Science. London: Constable & Robinson, Ltd., 2005. 58.

Print.

“Bank.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Bank.” Def. 1d. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Bask.” Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

“Bold.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Boulder.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

“Brake.” Def. 1a and Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010.

Print.

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44 Maranatha Christian University “Cat.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

“CAT.” Webster’s New World of Medical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Wiley Publishing,

2008. Print.

“Counterfeit.” Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Ear.” Idiom 7. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Field.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Field.” Def. 1e. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “For.” Def. 1h. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Joke.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Leave.” Def. 1a. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Left.” Def. 1 (Opposition). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010.

Print.

“Outstanding.” Def. 1a and def. 1b. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed.

2010. Print.

“P.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

“Pee.” Def. 2b. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Positive.” Def. 1e. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Positive.” Def. 1j. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Quarter.” Def. 1f. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Rapist.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

“Robin.” Def. 1 and Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010.

Print.

“Seal.” Def. 2d. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Seal.” Def. 2f. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print. “Snail.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 8th ed. 2010. Print.

Analysis of Language Play in Online Jokes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

APPENDIX

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY