Journal article
Safe Territory? The Humorous Narratives of Bilingual Women
Research on language and social interaction, Vol.40(2-3), pp.199-225
06/29/2007
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113219
Abstract
Humor in a second language (L2) can present an intimidating linguistic and cultural challenge for L2 speakers, yet it is a crucial means by which friendships are developed. In this article, I report on the humorous narratives constructed by 4 bilingual women in interaction with native English speakers. Unlike previous studies, which have pointed to women's tendencies to tell stories of their own foibles, these women told few first-person narratives, and these often positioned the speaker in a positive manner. The majority of these women's narratives contained third-party protagonists and frequently demonstrated that party's foolishness. The results show an overall pattern of positive self-portrayal of by the narrator. Telling overtly or implicitly self-aggrandizing stories was a way for these women to create solidarity among themselves and deal with the marginalization that many L2 speakers experience by virtue of their nonnative speaker status.
Metrics
7 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Safe Territory? The Humorous Narratives of Bilingual Women
- Creators
- Nancy D Bell - Department of English , Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- Publication Details
- Research on language and social interaction, Vol.40(2-3), pp.199-225
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis Group
- Identifiers
- 99900547412901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article