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An exploratory study of linguistic humour of Singapore youth
Author
Chen, Khin Wee
Supervisor
Tan, Ludwig
Abstract
This research project is an exploratory study that seeks to address the lack of scholarly attention to the study of humour in Singapore and will attempt to map out the appreciation of humour of youth in Singapore by understanding where the youth are in terms of their humour appreciation, and their preference. The findings will serve as a baseline for future and more detailed studies. This objective was achieved in two stages, the first being the collection of jokes from my polytechnic students. A total of 41 texts were collected and analysed for its Targets, Narrative Strategies and classified as either Verbal or Referential in nature. This was juxtaposed against a body of jokes from a published source of local humour and compared. Stage 2 consists of presenting a variety of 65 word-play texts sampling 16 word-play types (with one set of humour neutral texts as control) to a convenience sample of the student population of Singapore in an online survey. They rated the texts for their funniness and the results analysed to determine which type of humour text the sample found amusing or did not understand. The results indicate that Singapore youth do not have a strong preference for either Verbal or Referential, but have a strong racial undertone in their jokes. A significant number of respondents rated as funny the humour-neutral texts, raising questions about their comprehension or the conditions that might affect perception of humour.
Date Issued
2010
Call Number
P304 Che
Date Submitted
2010