Wordplay as a technique of linguistic manipulation (based on the American television series “Police Squad!”)

The study aims to determine the role of wordplay in creating comedic effect and shaping audience interpretations in the context of the 1982 American satirical television series “Police Squad!”. The article analyzes wordplay in the dialogue of the characters in the series “Police Squad!” and also identifies the impact of puns on audience perception. It is shown that wordplay is used in the series not only to achieve comedic effect, but also to manipulate audience perception. It is noted that the satirical context of the series is amplified through the linguistic features of wordplay, analyzed in terms of their role in linguistic manipulation. In particular, the study examines how the characters’ misinterpretation of ambiguous dialogue serves as a means of influencing audience perception and enhances comedic effect. The study is novel in that it is the first one to identify and conduct a detailed analysis of the mechanisms of wordplay as a tool of linguistic manipulation in satirical television discourse, as well as to determine the impact of these linguistic mechanisms on audience interpretation and perception. The results showed that wordplay based on homonymy is most often used to create comedic effect and manage audience perception in the television sphere.