Overview

The Linguistics of Laughter examines what speakers try to achieve by producing ‘laughter-talk’ (the talk preceding and eliciting an episode of laughter) and, by using abundant examples from language corpora, what hearers are signalling when they produce laughter. In particular, Alan Partington focuses on the tactical use of laughter-talk to achieve specific rhetorical, and strategic, ends: for example, to construct an identity, to make an argumentative point, to threaten someone else’s face or save one's own. Although laughter and humour are by no means always related, the book also considers the implications these corpus-based observations may have about humour theory in general. As one of the first works to have recourse to such a sizeable databank of examples of laughter in spontaneous running talk, this impressive volume is an essential point of reference and an inspiration for scholars with an interest in corpus linguistics, discourse, humour, wordplay, irony and laughter-talk as a social phenomenon.

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9780415544078

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Reviews

'The strengths of the book are many, the most important of which are the use of real spoken conversation to analyze a topic of much interest in current linguistics analysis and the use of corpus techniques in a relevant and accessible manner. Partington offers valuable insights, a clear and comprehensive review of foregoing research, and a consistent and easy-to-follow format... By the end of the book, the reader feels as though she has come to know the participants of these briefings, and an inevitable fondness for them develops. Thus Partington acheives a delicate and difficult balance.' - Christy Bird, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

'The strengths of the book are many, the most important of which are the use of real spoken conversation to analyze a topic of much interest in current linguistics analysis and the use of copus techniques in a relevant and accessible manner. Partington offers valuable insights, a clear and comprehensive review of foregoing research, and a consistent and easy-to-follow format... By the end of the book, the reader feels as though she has come to know the participants of these briefings, and an inevitable fondness for them develops. Thus Partington acheives a delicate and difficult balance.' - Christy Bird, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

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Alan Partington

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