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Detection of structural ambiguity in humor by non-native English speakers

Detection of structural ambiguity in humor by non-native English speakers. Rebecca D. Rosello. What is Humor?. What we find funny, or amusing Humor/ humour --noun the ability to be amused by things, the way in which people see that some things are amusing or the quality of being amusing

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Detection of structural ambiguity in humor by non-native English speakers

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  1. Detection of structural ambiguity in humor by non-native English speakers Rebecca D. Rosello

  2. What is Humor? What we find funny, or amusing • Humor/humour--noun the ability to be amused by things, the way in which people see that some things are amusing or the quality of being amusing • Humorous--adjectivefunny, or making you laugh VS. • Humor/humour--nounthe state of your feelings; mood:You seem in a very good humour today.Humor/humour--verbto do what someone wants so that they do not become annoyed or upset:I applied for the job just to humour my parents. • --Cambridge University Press

  3. What is Ambiguity? A Double or Multiple Meaning • Ambiguous--adjectivehaving or expressing more than one possible meaning, sometimes intentionally:His reply to my question was somewhat ambiguous.The wording of the agreement is ambiguous.The government has been ambiguous on this issue. • Ambiguity--noun We wish to remove any ambiguity (= confusion) concerning our demands.There are some ambiguities in the legislation. --Cambridge University Press

  4. Types of Ambiguity • Lexical “Are you dating anyone?” • Structural • Syntactic • Class (changes part of speech) • Vocal Controls • Pitch • Stress

  5. The Big, Overlying Issues • How is language modeled? • How does humor fit into the language? How is meaning derived? • How should language be taught? Prescriptively, or Descriptively? • Can understanding idioms/humor aid in language acquisition?

  6. The Basic Idea Devise an experiment to determine if Non-native speakers can identify or detect structural ambiguity in English-language humor. (Can they “get the joke”?)

  7. Two Sides to Every Issue • Non-native speakers are sufficiently fluent to have very minimal non-nativelike utterances, they can detect structural ambiguity similar to a native. • (Prescriptivism worked, or they have had sufficient descriptive experience) • There is some discrepancy between what they know, and what they encounter in the real world (ie humor). • (Prescriptivism did not work sufficiently, or they need more descriptive experience.

  8. Methodology • Survey 15-25 Non-native English speakers • Present them with a series of written jokes, dependent on structural (syntactic) ambiguity • Have them explain/identify the ambiguity • Analyze data • 67% of total responses “wins”

  9. Impact and Implications Increase sample size Survey group, control group, data set Study different types of structural ambiguity Study variant levels of English proficiency Study classes where descriptive approaches are used vs. traditional approaches Improve pedagogy Help us better understand how L2 learners of English internalize language Lessen frequency of “micro-global events” Broaden cultural understanding, help bridge the gap between standard English taught in classroom s and everyday situations

  10. How do you make a slow horse fast? Don’t give him any food! SVOC vs SVO (object clause)

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