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ლექცია 11 (2) m
ლექცია 11 (2) m
ისიც კი, ვინც თანახმაა გაითვალისწინოს ხასიათი, ეჭვობს, რომ ერის შემადგენელი
ადამიანების ერთობლიობაში რამე უნიფორმის ან რეგულარულობის დაჭერა შეიძლება.
ადაპტორებს;
ილუსტრატორებს;
ჟესტ-სიმბოლოებს;
მიმანიშნებელ ჟესტებს;
შემთანხმებლურ (მომლაპარაკებელ) ჟესტებს.
ადაპტორები (ცხვირის მოფხანა, ტუჩის მოკვნეტა) სხეულს ეხმარება გარემოსთან
ადაპტაციაში, მაგრამ დროთა განმავლობაში შეიძლება ეს ფუნქცია დაკარგოს.
კულტურული კონტექსტი განსაზღვრავს, რომლის გამოყენებაა მისაღები-მიუღებელი
ამა თუ იმ სიტუაციაში, თუმცა ისინი ნაკლებად გამოიყენება ინტერპერსონალურ
ურთიერთობებში.
წყაროები:
The central question of any anthropological inquiry has always been: what makes us human?
The answers to this question have been as varied as the many brands of anthropology
proposed since the beginning of the discipline, which is usually traced back to Edward B.
Taylor’s Primitive culture (1871). One way of answering this question has been to look at the
evolution of the human species; this is what biological anthropologists and
paleoanthropologists do. Another way has been to look at the different ways in which
humans change the environment, organize their lives, and represent them symbolically. This
is what archaeologists and socio-cultural anthropologists do. A third way has been to examine
what it means to be a species that has developed such a sophisticated system of
communication, usually referred to as “language.” This is what linguistic anthropologists do.
To have a culture means to have communication and to have communication means to have
access to a language. But what does it mean “to have a language”? Perhaps we can start
answering this question by thinking about some of the contradictions involved in the
arguments over whether some individuals have a language.
The commonly held standards of what is acceptable or unacceptable, important unimportant,
right or wrong, workable or unworkable, etc., in a community or society is termed cultural
values.
Cultural Values
A culture's values are its ideas about what is good, right, fair, and just. Sociologists disagree,
however, on how to conceptualize values. Conflict theory focuses on how values differ
between groups within a culture, while functionalism focuses on the shared values within a
culture. For example, American sociologist Robert K. Merton suggested that the most
important values in American society are wealth, success, power, and prestige, but that
everyone does not have an equal opportunity to attain these values. Functional sociologist
Talcott Parsons noted that Americans share the common value of the “American work ethic,”
which encourages hard work. Other sociologists have proposed a common core of American
values, including accomplishment, material success, problem‐solving, reliance on science and
technology, democracy, patriotism, charity, freedom, equality and justice, individualism,
responsibility, and accountability. A culture, though, may harbor conflicting values. For
instance, the value of material success may conflict with the value of charity. Or the value of
equality may conflict with the value of individualism. Such contradictions may exist due to
an inconsistency between people's actions and their professed values, which explains why
sociologists must carefully distinguish between what people do and what they say. Real
culture refers to the values and norms that a society actually follows, while ideal culture
refers to the values and norms that a society professes to believe.
There is no modern society without evaluating good humor. We have a favorable attitude to
the people who have a good sense of humor and can positively alter the listener's mood. Good
humor awakes pleasant emotions; it is a successful means of communication, the best way to
avoid misunderstandings and tensions; it is a manifestation of human intellectual abilities, it
jokingly expresses human relations, traditionally including "dirty" and offensive jokes, but
representing part of the national culture and being therefore democratic by the nature. The
concept of "funny" is necessary to view the text humorously. It is well expressed in the
nation's psychology, in its attitude to the moral values. If humor is based on a common
national peculiarity, is motivated and funny, it is easily guessed.
The ability to respond tothe comic, expresses person’s sense of humor. Sense of humor is a
qualityof mind (mentalproperty), which has a complex structure; it is a character traitthat
helps to identifythe type of a person. S.Leacockdefineshumor as agood-naturedattitude
towardlifediscrepancies, as an expressionof this relationby means of art, or a feeling that
allows us to express this ratio.
The word "humor" itself is of relatively recent origin. According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, it arose during the 17th century out of psycho-physiological scientific speculation
on the effects of various humors that might affect a person's temperament. Attempting to
offer a general theory of laughter and humor, John Morreall (1987) makes a finer distinction:
laughter results from a pleasant psychological shift, whereas, humor arises from a pleasant
cognitive shift. Laughter enhances respiration and circulation, oxygenates the blood,
suppresses stress related hormones in the brain and activates the immune system. Every time
you laugh, you burn 3.5 calories. The purpose of humor is to point out common ground and
to make people feel better about the bad things in their life. It is a coping skill, a way for
people to get through difficult times.
People laughwhen they see or hear somethingunusual, strange, illogical, absurd, controversial
relations between positive and negative, sometimes simplified, ignoring the normal course of
events. In this case, ridiculousviolation of rules seems an accepted norm ofsociety. Ridiculous
is everything that gives rise to laughter. It covers rather a motley circle of the phenomena:
casual coincidence, ridiculous external provisions, a clownish trick, an amusing trick of the
absent-minded person, etc. – everything that can excite the corresponding humorous
reaction. This is the wayof politeness, the strategyto minimize the threat, the way to
reducesocial distance.However, not any ridiculous is comical. Ridiculous is comical only
when it is estimated from the certain esthetic idea through an external form of the sense and
the internal nature of the phenomenon. Thepleasureofhumorisseeninthefactthat there is a
mutual understanding between the interlocutors when we share the vision and values of the
message in a humorous discourse.The value of humor and its social importance is shown in
the great popularity of collections of jokes.
Several typesof humor are distinguished in psychology and linguistics. I would liketo
highlighttwo of them: provoking positiveemotionsandaggressivehumor.Eachof
themincludesdifferent types ofjokes, for example, the former may combinestereotypical and
gender anecdotes, linguistic, Limericks, ethnic humor triggering positiveemotions.
Aggressivehumoris characterized by the dark humor, sarcasm, insult, ridicule, satire,
criticism. For the representatives ofdifferentnations aggressive humor is particularlydifficultto
understand, ifthey do not know the nation'scultural peculiarities.
Rod Martin (2007) in his book “Psychology of Humor” focuses on four main components of
humor: 1 a social context, 2. A cognitive-perceptual process, 3. An emotional response 4. The
vocal-behavioral expression of laughter. P. Pluta (2013) added to this list 5. Cultural
phenomenon, due to an increasing importance of humor as a cultural phenomenon 6.
Individual style or preference.
Humor as a cultural phenomenon assesses social values and principles of life. Through humor,
people try to show how to adapt to unexpected changes in their lives, how to avoid the
psychological stress. It isnot only the intellectual and psychological phenomenon,but it is
emotional as well; while laughing and smiling people try to relax and rest. Appropriate
pronunciation, intonation, stress, sound imitation is vitally important for making humorous
effect that may be expressednot only verbally, but also non-verbally, by facial expression,
gestures, mimicry.
The role of humor as a way of preventing and weakening the interpersonal conflict is
essential. Any person, contacting with others, as a rule, seeks to keep the image, to support a
prestige. The positive assessment of the joker is a necessary stimulator of a short, but a very
positive activity, it brings to the storyteller incomparable satisfaction and stimulates his
further behavior. The laughter in response to humor is an indicator that interlocutors share
some views and values, and it is a good basis for joint activity.The storyteller has a real
opportunity to discharge intensity in the interpersonal relations. At the psychological level of
the conflict, the statement about the usefulness of humor and laughter is confirmed by life
experience of many generations. As Bernard Shaw noticed sometimes, it is necessary to make
people laugh, to distract them from desire to hang you up.
We will be considering the humor from the point of lingua-cultural approach, as the carrier
of cultural values of the nation. This approach means studying humor in various linguistic
communities, it gives us the chance to allocate the people belonging to a certain culture and
sharing ethno-cultural system of values and norms, in a certain society. The humor itself is
one of such values connected with the cultural behaviorof the people.
Humor is an important part of modern discourse. The colloquial humor is highly appreciated
in the society. In the western civilization, the humor is an integral part of everyday
communication. The American tradition is to begin presentations and business meetings with
jokes to establish the friendly atmosphere and to get people think your way that is essential to
you. Telling the jokes is a very conventional and socially dependent speech behavior. Ability
to joke creates a positive image between the participants of communication and promotes its
success, the absence of a sense of humor, on the contrary, alienates, complicates entry of the
person into the group.
Understanding jokes are woven intothe context ofculture. Romanova E.V. (2007) remarks
that we cannot ignore stereotypical "ethnic jokes" as they show the historical experience
ofthe national community. Therefore, having been the members of the Soviet Union people
understood the jokes of thosewith whom theyhad todeal the course of history: the Georgians,
theRussians, theEstonians, the Armenians, the Chukchi,etc. In Germanyjokesabout the
Chinese, the Turks, the Dutch, Austrians, and Scots are particularly popular. In the UK
stereotypical anecdotes about the French, the Chinese, the Jews, the Scots, the Irish, the
Russians, the Black-English are numerous. Thus, thecommonthemesof jokesin Georgia are
inhabitants of different parts of Georgia, Svans, Kakhetians, Guriens, Ruchvelians, etc. For
the Russianethnicspace, Jokes are about the"new Russians", the Jews, the Ukrainians, the
Caucasians, theChukchas, former and current political leaders, as well as the heroesof cinema
andliterature, etc.
Formembers of other similar lingua-cultures, humor is oftennot clear, since called heroes
they do not know and or they have the particular associations. Common objects of German
jokes are blonde-haired people, popular personalities, political leaders, popand sports
celebrities, scandalous characters, and representatives of prestigious professions. It should be
notedthat thestereotypical viewsthat are attributed toother culturesare not alwayspositive or
have neutral connotations. For example, among other good qualities, the Scots have been
distinguished for humor, not for venomous wit, but for kindly, genial humor. However, the
Scots and the Irish are sometimes described as overly greedy, mean and naïve, they show
their ticklish attitude to the English. Example:
One day anEnglishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishmanwalked into a pubtogether. They each
bought apint ofGuinness. Just as they were about to enjoy theircreamy beverage, three flies
landedineach of theirpints, andwere stuck inthe thick head. The Englishmanpushed his beer
away indisgust. The Scotsman fished the fly outofhis beer, and continued drinkingit, as if
nothinghad happened.The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink, held it out over the
beer, and started yelling, "SPIT ITOUT, SPIT IT OUT YOU BAS**RD!!!!"
Talking about the moral andpersonal qualities ofthe British, sincerity, honesty,attractiveness,
cleanliness, sociability, etc. we should not forget their human sins-greed, gluttony, lust, envy,
anger, sloth, pride. According to Geoffrey Gorer (1995)the most common sinof the
Britishisanger,and he did notfindgluttony or envy in these people. The very small amount of
the Englishconsiders themselves guilty oflust and avarice. Sociological surveysshow that
thisquality is moreactivelyrecognized andexperiencedby the rural residents, and in England,
the vast majority of people are citizens. Pride is associatedwith the knowledge, under the
rubric of"laziness" (sloth - laziness or indolence; reluctance to make an effort) the
Britishcombinedifferent qualities: procrastination (leavingfor later) andsluggishness or
lethargy.
G.Gorercomesto the conclusionthat the basis ofthe English national character are qualities
such as: the rejection ofexternal control, love of freedom,resistance,little interest inthe sphere
ofintimate relationships, the high assessment ofeducationas a means ofbuilding character,
courtesy andsensitivity to thefeelings of others, recognition of the importanceof marriage and
family(Gorer,1955, p.287).The aggressiveness ofthe Britishdid not disappear, it justis strictly
controlled.The subject ofridiculeis thephysicalshortcomings and weaknessesof people -
age,overweight,baldpresence, speech, etc. The situationis seen ashumorousand
thereforeharmless. An important feature of the British is the self-irony, self-deprecation.The
essential moment for this opposition is ethno-cultural stereotypes: opinion about others
(hetero-stereotypes) and a belief of oneself (auto-stereotypes).Hetero-stereotypes are
characterized by the criticism of the behavior of other nations, ethnic prejudices, or ethnic
jokes. Examples:
“Heaven is where the cooks are French, the police are British, the mechanics are German, the
lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss.”
“Hell is where the cooks are British, the police are German, the mechanics are French, the
lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians.”
In English the mostcommon ways tocreate acomic effectare-a play on the words(puns based
onpolysemy, contamination,and different soundcoincidences), understatement, exaggeration,
parody. Imagery has been vital not just to understand basic language about action and
movement, but also seems essential to linguistic humor as well.
1. What is the longest word inthe Englishlanguage? "Smiles". Because there is a mile between
itsfirstand last letters!
Humorgives an impetusto the associative memory; it is usedas a rule,notfor the sake of the
text, but for the sakeof relatedassociations.