Recourse to Language Humour as an Added Incentive to Studying Contrastive Grammar and Idioms: a Modest Proposal
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2009
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Abstract
The present contribution submits to the reader a 'modest proposal' suggesting how
language humour can be resorted to in an attempt to improve vocabulary and grammar
skills of students taking comparative language courses (English vs. German vs.
Romanian). Students ¿ and reader alike ¿ catch a first glimpse of linguicomedy in the
second section which exposes the comicality of a prima facie 'humour-proof' sentence
like I only drink whisky on the rocks. Sections Three and Four discuss briefly the theory
advanced by Coseriu on linguistic norms and my own view on comic effects generated
by the flouting of the aforesaid norms, with appropriate examples adduced in
corroboration of the theory submitted. Section Five investigates translatability of
language humour. Various linguicomedy samples are being anatomized, assigned to
the particular linguistic norm type which they have been found to flout, and then
provided with a "punchline-friendly" "rendition" "if any" into one "or both" of the other
two languages being investigated, with concomitant recourse to domestication and
ethnocentric techniques for the intertextual type. A synopsis presented after the
concluding section on the two otherwise similarly performing student groups shows the
grades which the 'humourful' student group got in their finals to be considerably higher
than those of the 'humourless' one, thus proving my 'humorous' strategy right.
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Bibliographic reference
Maciuca, Gina. Recourse to Language Humour as an Added Incentive to Studying Contrastive Grammar and Idioms: a Modest Proposal. En: Anglogermanica Online, 2009-2011, No. 7: 4-21