The metapragmatics of “teasing” in Taiwanese Chinese conversational humour

Abstract

One of the challenges faced by researchers working on conversational humour across languages is that the particular scientific metalanguage we use to talk about the phenomenon in question influences and shapes our understanding of it. The aim of this paper is to explore the import of such issues for research on conversational humour through an examination of the labels used by Taiwanese speakers of Mandarin Chinese when talking about what is broadly termed “teasing” in English. Our aim is to better understand the connotations of these various native terms, how they relate to each other, and how they are deployed by speakers when referring to “teasing” events. The study draws on interviews with native Taiwanese informants and an analysis of large web-based corpus of Mandarin Chinese, the zhTenTen17 Traditional Corpus, to show that “teasing” is conceptualised in complex ways by Taiwanese speakers of Chinese, and because of that the same “teasing” event is open to construal in different ways by those speakers. We conclude that metapragmatic studies of conversational humour in different languages are important if we are to avoid bleaching out important cultural properties and thereby distorting our objects of analysis.

role of ‘familiarity’ in Mandarin Chinese speakers’ metapragmatic evaluations of Australian conversational humour

“…It is notable that Zara emphasises that this type of humorous practice can only be perceived as teasing if there is a good guanxi between interactants, i.e., the interpersonal relationship between participants is considered positive and close. This is in line with Chang and Haugh's (2020) claim that this type of teasing ('tiaokan') is only allowable in close relationship where tiaokan is associated with having "fun" at the expense of both others and self. In other words, having a good guanxi is construed as a crucial factor allowing interactants to conduct certain communicative acts, such as teasing here, by the means of one's guanxi (Chang 2016).…”

“…In the analyses of interviewees' metapragmatic commentary on "teasing" events in Taiwanese Chinese conversational humour, it appeared that the interviewees employ various metalinguistic resources to describe the events they perceived, of which their affective responses particularly were found to be the most salient. More specifically, the affective responses of the target and the presumed relationship between the producer and the target of the "tease" were frequently invoked by the interviewees (Chang & Haugh 2020). This convincingly supports the argument that metapragmatic studies on conversational humour can "help identify phenomena without bleaching out their cultural properties" and also "enable researchers to calibrate empirical studies and to undertake comparisons of conversational humour across languages" (Chang & Haugh 2020: 25-26).…”

“…The interviewees were particularly asked to further describe and comment on the humour practices through which native speakers of Mandarin Chinese demonstrate one's perception of social practices. It is worth noting that metapragmatic approach was also adopted in the recent paper by Chang and Haugh (2020) examining "teasing" in Taiwanese Chinese conversational humour. In the analyses of interviewees' metapragmatic commentary on "teasing" events in Taiwanese Chinese conversational humour, it appeared that the interviewees employ various metalinguistic resources to describe the events they perceived, of which their affective responses particularly were found to be the most salient.…”

“…While the humour practices shown in the videos are broadly termed "jocular mockery" or "teasing", they can be translated with multiple native terms in Mandarin Chinese. Please see a detailed analysis of the metalinguistic label tiaokan inChang and Haugh (2020).…”

Translanguaging as a Scaffolded Practice in a Primary School Content and Language Integrated Learning Context During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Based on the nature of teaching YLs English as an additional language (EAL), Nikolov and Mihaljević Djigunović (2019) emphasized the activities focusing on fluency more than accuracy for providing YLs' experience for fundamental communication skills than cognitive academic ones. This study revealed that multimodal resources suggested by Chang and Haugh (2020) such as videos, graphic organizers, mind maps, storyboards, comics, or bilingual notes were utilized to broaden the YLs' language and meaning-making repertoire. UCIP affirmed, I should be creative in equipping my students with English to learn science by visual and audiovisual scaffolding materials.…”