Okazawa2021

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Okazawa2021
BibType ARTICLE
Key Okazawa2021
Author(s) Ryo Okazawa
Title Resisting categorization in interaction: Membership categorization analysis of sitcom humor
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Membership Categorization, Media
Publisher Elsevier Ltd
Year 2021
Language
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 186
Number
Pages 33–44
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.09.011
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Membership categorization analysts have suggested that practices of resisting categorization are worth investigating, and these practices might be related to humor in interaction. This study examines how practices of resisting categorization contribute to the production of humor in the moment-by-moment flow of interaction. While humor can be found in a diverse range of interactional contexts, I focus on a sitcom, a specific type of mediated communication. Using a United States sitcom series for data, my analysis demonstrates two mechanisms of the interactional production of humor related to resisting categorization. First, the repetition of categorization and resistance to categorization among participants can produce humor. Second, engagement in category-bound activities despite resisting the categorization can be a resource for humor production. The analysis shows that the collective sender sequentially arranges fictional characters' categorization, resisting categorization, and category-bound activities in interactions to create humorous incongruity for the audience.

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