Wit and Humor in Chinese Characters - A Socio-Cultural and Historical Perspective

• Authors: Li-Chi Chen , Anna Sroka-Grądziel , Fu-Lan Lee , Eryk Hajndrych

Title variants

PL

Elementy humorystyczne w znakach chińskich – perspektywa społeczno-kulturowa i historyczna

Abstracts

PL

Celem artykułu jest ukazanie elementów humorystycznych zawartych w znakach chińskich w perspektywie społeczno-kulturowej i historycznej. Podjęta analiza opiera się na definicji śmiechu sformułowanej przez Bergsona ([1911] 2014) oraz dwóch funkcjach chińskiego humoru – 寓教於樂 tzw. ‘zawieranie morału w rozrywce’ (Liao 2001) oraz 會心微笑 tzw. ‘szczery śmiech lub wymowny uśmiech’ (L.-C. Chen 2017). Materiał badawczy wykorzystany w badaniu pochodzi z różnorodnych źródeł internetowych i literackich, oraz z repertuaru językowego autorów. Badanie pozwoliło na wyróżnienie sześciu źródeł humoru zawartego w znakach chińskich: (a) formy wizualne znaków; (b) dekompozycja znaków; (c) chińskie ligatury; (d) chińskie gry słów na bazie homofonów; (e) błędne odczytywania podobnych znaków; oraz (f) zapożyczenia z kanji – znaków chińskich używanych w języku japońskim. Wyniki pracy sugerują, że humorystyczność poszczególnych znaków wiąże się z posiadaniem ludzkich cech behawioralnych i ukrytych pouczeń, które to prowadzą do wywołania w odbiorcy będącego członkiem społeczności chińskojęzycznej ‘szczerego śmiechu lub wymownego uśmiechu’.

EN

Building on Bergson’s ([1911] 2014) account of laughter, as well as two recognized functions of Chinese humor – 寓教於樂 ‘wrapping instructions in entertainment/amusement’ (Liao 2001) and 會心微笑 ‘a hearty laugh or a knowing smile’ (Chen 2017) – this study intends to analyze the wit and humor found in Chinese characters from a socio-cultural and historical perspective. The data used in this analysis come from internet resources and books, as well as from the authors’ linguistic repertoire. We have observed six sources of humor in Chinese characters. These are: (a) the visual form of a Chinese character; (b) decomposing a Chinese character; (c) Chinese ligatures; (d) Chinese homophonic puns; (e) misreading of similar Chinese characters; and (f) the borrowing of Japanese kanji. Our findings suggest that funny Chinese characters should contain human behavioral attributes and wrapped instructions and will evoke a hearty laugh or knowing smile from the in-group members of a Chinese-speaking community.

Keywords

EN

Chinese characters; Chinese ligatures; homophonic puns; human behavior; humor

PL

znaki chińskie; chińskie ligatury; homofoniczne gry słowne; zachowanie ludzkie; humor

• Publisher: Instytut Języka Polskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk
• Journal: Socjolingwistyka
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 35
• Pages: 41-54

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Li-Chi Chen

• Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

• https://orcid.org/0000000231673959

author

Anna Sroka-Grądziel

• Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

• https://orcid.org/0000000181602625

author

Fu-Lan Lee

• Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

• https://orcid.org/0000000324083384

author

Eryk Hajndrych

• Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

• https://orcid.org/0000000289614177

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Identifiers

DOI

10.17651/SOCJOLING.35.3

Biblioteka Nauki

1968943