Conceptual integration and humor: Can learners unpack the joke?

master's thesis

• Author: Martina Klarić
• Mentor: Renata Geld (mentor)
• Committee member: Stela Letica Krevelj (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Jasenka Čengić (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Renata Geld (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2020-06-16, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is conceptual integration, which is a basic cognitive operation that enables people to construct meaning by integrating different concepts, and its connection to humor appreciation. More specifically, the study that was conducted for the purpose of this thesis aimed to investigate whether Croatian EFL learners would be able to understand the point of jokes in English and whether their analysis of jokes would be guided by the principle of conceptual integration called “unpacking”, which can be defined as determining the input spaces that form the blended space in a joke. Although, to the author’s knowledge there are no previous studies addressing the language learners’ capacity to “unpack” humor, there are some studies that have proved to be useful and relevant for this thesis. The participants were first and fourth year students from the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Zagreb. They were asked to analyze five jokes and try to describe what goes on in their minds when they read them.

Abstract (croatian)

Tema je ovog diplomskog rada konceptualna integracija, temeljna kognitivna operacija koja ljudima omogućava da konstruiraju značenje integracijom različitih koncepata, i njezina povezanost s razumijevanjem humora. Cilj je istraživanja provedenog u svrhu ovog diplomskog rada bio utvrditi mogu li hrvatski studenti engleskog kao stranog jezika shvatiti bit šala na engleskom jeziku i vode li se pri analiziranju tih šala načelom konceptualne integracije koje se zove “raspakiravanje” (eng. unpacking). Koliko je autorici ovoga rada poznato, nema drugih istraživanja koja se bave sposobnošću učenika nekog stranog jezika da “raspakiraju” humor na tom jeziku, postoje istraživanja koja su se pokazala korisnima i važnima za temu ovoga rada. Ispitanici su bili studenti prve i četvrte godine s Odsjeka za engleski jezik i književnost na Sveučilištu u Zagrebu. Zadatak im je bio analizirati pet šala i pokušati opisati što im prolazi glavom kada pročitaju iste.

• Keywords: conceptual integration; joke analysis; unpacking principle; EFL learners
• Keywords (croatian): konceptualna integracija; analiza šala; načelo raspakiravanja; učenici engleskog kao stranog jezika
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:966576
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: TEFL; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2020-06-26 07:32:18