Pragmatic Analysis of Humor in Bilingual Classroom Discourse

Several studies have explored the role humor plays in class but few analyzed humor using pragmatic approach. The study aims to provide an initial analysis of the pragmatic nature of humor in tertiary classroom discourse. Using transcripts from the recorded classroom interaction of teachers and college students, this paper hopes to identify the types of implicature and presupposition that are present in classroom humor. Specifically, it aims to identify how implicatures and presuppositions are employed in the creation of humor in the classroom. interaction was from five (5) different classes in the tertiary level in a state university. The classes were selected based on the willingness of the teacher and student participants to have their discussions recorded. These classes were English, Sociology, Physics, Analytical Geometry and Biological Science which were bilingual in nature, meaning both English and Filipino languages were used by both teachers and students during the discussion. The teachers' average age is thirty-three (33) years old and length of teaching in the university is seven (7) years. The average number of students in class is forty-eight (48). Each classroom interaction was recorded during the whole class period which lasted for about one hour to three hours each lecture. The recording was done on the period when the teachers and students were discussing a lesson. The recording was stopped when teachers proceeded to their exercises or quizzes. The unit of analysis were the utterances from both teachers and students that produce or trigger humor during class interaction. However only cases of utterances that contain maxims, implicature and presuppositions were extracted for analysis. JEL Codes: Keywords: Humor, Pragmatics, Implicature, Presupposition, Classroom Discourse