SOCIO-PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SELECTED IVORIAN STAND-UP COMEDY

Abstract

Stand-up Comedy (SUC), a form of entertainment involving humour, is commonly deployed for social re-engineering among Africans, including Ivorians. Extant linguistic studies on humour in Côte d’Ivoire concentrated mainly on the semiotic analysis of satirical cartoons and mechanisms of humour observed in humorous press (Gbich) in Cote d’Ivoire. However, little attention was paid to the socio-pragmatic dynamics of SUC. This study was, therefore, designed to examine socio-pragmatic dynamics of humour in routines of selected Ivorian Stand-up Comedians (ISUCNs), with a view to determining the discourse issues, linguistic resources and humour strategies in the routines. Dell Hymes’ Ethnography of Communication, complemented by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson’s Relevance Theory, was adopted as the framework. The descriptive design was used. Purposive sampling was deployed for the selection of seven ISUCNs because they featured regularly in ‘Bonjour’ nights (Ivorian annual comic programme ushering every New Year) organised by Radio-Télévision Ivoirienne. They were Agalawal, Papitou, La Flamme de l’Estanguer (FE), Mala Adamo, Les Zinzins de l’Art (ZA), Joel and EnK2K. Seven routines (one for each) were purposively selected from the 2018 edition of Bonjour recorded on DVD based on their preponderant engagement of socio-political issues. The data were subjected to socio-pragmatic analysis. Four discourse issues were identified: economic hardship (Agalawal, Papitou, FE and ZA), bad governance (Agalawal, Mala Adamo, FE and ZA), unemployment (Agalawal, FE, ZA and Joel) and marital unfaithfulness (Papitou and EnK2K). These discourse issues were to mirror the key socio-political problems in Côte d’Ivoire. Four linguistic resources were deployed: wordplay, repetition, formulaic expressions and code switching. Wordplay (all comedians) was deployed to display creative playful manipulation of words. Repetition (Joel, Agalawal, FE and ZA) was utilised to determine the rhythmic flow of the jokes and to make many ideas clearer and memorable. Formulaic expressions (all comedians) were used to plan time and to make the pauses shorter or less frequent. Code switching (Joel, FE, Agalawal, EnK2K and Mala Adamo), which involves Standard French, Popular African French (Nouchi), English, Arabic and native languages (Baoulé and Malinké), was deployed to display linguistic competence of the comedians in catering for the linguistic diversities of Ivorians. Six humour strategies were employed: ridicule, allusion, irreverent behaviour, absurdity, imitation and irony. Ridicule (all comedians) was employed to deride socio-political problems verbally and nonverbally. Allusion (Agalawal) was used to make indirect reference to incumbent Ivorian president. Irreverent behaviour (Agalawal, Papitou and Mala Adamo) was employed to show the lack of proper respect for authority. Absurdity (Mala Adamo) was deployed to present situations that go against all logical rules. Imitation (Papitou and FE) was employed to mimic little children and religious leaders while presenting socio-political problems. Irony (ZA and Mala Adamo) was used to satirise the socio-political problems in Côte d’Ivoire. Ivorian Stand-up Comedians engage socio-political issues through the deployment of humour and linguistic choices in their routines.