54
LA
Set-up Martin
: Why would he want a storage heater in Abu Dhabi?
Punch line Douglas
: Well, there is a lot of heat to store
The riddle presented in the table 4.11 had function vs. fact SO. It meant to oppose the real function of storage heater, which is actually to help with the
electricity, and the fact that a hot city has a lot of heat. Using fallacious reasoning as the logical mechanism LM, the riddle was intended to give an absurd rational
of why a hot city needed a storage heater. With the SO and LM decided that way, the riddle was assembled under a
specific situation, which was Martin‟s question to Douglas about the importance of having a storage heater in Abu Dhabi. As a result of the previous three KRs, the
target TA of the riddle had an empty value. Question and answer format was decided as the Narrative Strategy NS of how this verbal humour was presented
with a certain wording and punch line positioning shown in the table 4.11.
3. Joke Analysis
The verbal humour which analysed in this section was a joke. It was verbal humour number 10 that appeared on 00.03.36 within the radio drama. Table 4.12
provides the analysis of the joke.
Table 4.12 Joke Analysis
Number of Verbal Humour: 10
Minutes in Radio Drama: 00.03.36
Dialogue: Arthur
: What do you reckon, Douglas?
Douglas : We could go to Bristol, I believe. People do.
KR SO
Advice vs. Ability
LM
Absurd Interpretation
SI
Arthur asks for Douglas‟s opinion whether they should divert to Bristol
55
TA
None
NS Conversation
LA Set-up
Arthur :
What do you reckon, Douglas? Douglas :
We could go to Bristol, I believe.
Punch line Douglas :
People do.
The word “could” in the joke presented in table 4.2, could be understood as both a modal of advice and a modal to show an ability to do a certain thing.
These two possibilities provided the listeners with an SO, opposing advice vs. ability, which became the soul of the joke. The SO, then, was presented under the
Absurd Interpretation LM to create incongruous ways of interpreting in order to meet the need of laughter.
The SO and LM then were built under a certain SI where Arthur asked Douglas if they had to divert. Having a certain situation, the verbal humour chose
not to have a “butt of the humour” or the TA, leaving the row with an empty value. Then, the joke was generated within a conversation NS. Finally, the
wording of the joke was constructed into a certain LA, placing the punch line in the very end, as shown in the table 4.2.
4. Satire Analysis
The analysis of satirical expression is presented in this part. The researcher took the verbal humour number 20 as the sample of the satire analysis. It appeared
on 00.08.21 in the radio drama. The following table, table 4.13 provides the analysis.
