Ferreira2014

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Ferreira2014
BibType ARTICLE
Key Ferreira2014
Author(s) A. Virginia Acuña Ferreira
Title Gossip as a indirect mockery in friendly conversation: The social functions of 'sharing a laugh' at third parties
Editor(s)
Tag(s) Conversation Analysis
Publisher
Year 2014
Language
City
Month
Journal Discourse Studies
Volume 16
Number 5
Pages 607–628
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/1461445614538564
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of gossip that is done in a playful key, including laughter as a salient feature, drawing on extracts taken from two naturally occurring conversations among Galician female undergraduate students. The analysis indicates that gossip emerges as a form of indirect mockery in the data, which are commonly based on dramatized reported speech of the ‘victim’, including parodic stylization devices that are orientated to elicit laughter by making fun or through ridicule. The evaluation component also reveals important differences in relation to serious gossip, as it is not necessarily negative and is not always explicitly established or developed. For this reason, this component can be ambiguous in some cases. From a functional perspective, the article emphasizes that sociability and entertainment are not the only functions that playful and humorous gossip can play; at a fundamental level, this discourse practice has other benefits for the participants: as a way of constructing group identity and getting group comfort for a feeling of envy; of increasing self-esteem from the problems of another party; and of degrading other people’s success. The common element behind these underlying functions is a comparative competition of the gossipers with the person who is the subject of their talk. Thus, gossip as mockery is not free of maliciousness and competitiveness.

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