‘We Want Fork but No Pork’: (Im)Politeness in Humour by Asian Users of English as a Lingua Franca and Australian English Speakers

Abstract

This study explores the conversational humour of Asian multilinguals using English as a lingua franca (ELF) – specifically, their use of (im)politeness strategies to humorously maintain, neglect or affront their target’s face. The Asian ELF data come from the Asian Corpus of English (ACE), which comprises naturally occurring data of English being used as a lingua franca by Asian multilinguals. These data are compared with similar instances drawn from existing Australian humour studies. Our qualitative analysis reveals significant insights into how (im)politeness (both actual and pretended) are utilised as humour strategies by Asian ELF speakers compared with Australian English users.