Analysis of Ambiguities in Jokes.

(1)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………... i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... iii

ABSTRACT ………... iv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the Study ………... 1

Statement of the Problem ………... 4

Purpose of the Study ………... 4

Methods of Research ………... 4

Organization of the Thesis ………... 4

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Syntactic Ambiguity ………. 6

Semantics Ambiguity ……… 8

Phonological Ambiguity ……….. 11

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF AMBIGUITIES IN JOKES ………... 12

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ………... 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 46

APPENDIX: The Jokes with Syntactic Ambiguity ………... 48

The Jokes with Semantic Ambiguity ……….………...49

(2)

ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini ditulis untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat kelulusan program Sarjana di Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Kristen Maranatha. Dalam skripsi ini, saya menganalisis pemakaian ambiguitas yang terdapat dalam lelucon dimana penggunaan ambiguitas ini mempengaruhi efek humor pada lelucon tersebut.

Penulis menggunakan lelucon sebagai data dari penelitiannya karena pada beberapa lelucon terdapat sisi linguistik yang cukup menarik untuk dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Terutama pada efek lucu yang terjadi pada lelucon tersebut.

Ambiguitas dalam lelucon memegang peranan penting karena ambiguitas dapat menciptakan suatu kesalahpahaman dimana pada akhirnya kesalahpahaman yang terjadi pada lelucon dapat menghasilkan efek lucu.

Teori-teori yang digunakan oleh penulis dalam menganalisis adalah teori ambigu yang terdapat dalam Syntax, Semantik dan Phonology.

Dari penjelasan diatas, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa terdapatnya kata-kata atau ungkapan-ungkapan yang memiliki makna ganda bisa mempengaruhi kesinambungan komunikasi kita.

(3)

APPENDIX

1. Syntactic Ambiguity:

Structural Ambiguity

Data 1:

Waiter: These are the best eggs we’ve had for years. Diner: Well, bring me some you haven’t had around for that long.

Data 2:

"Mother, I want to grow up and be a rock-n-roll musician." "Now son, you have to pick one or the other. You can't do both."

Data 3:

My friend said he knew a man with a wooden leg named

Smith.

So I asked him "What was the name of his other leg?"

Categorial Ambiguity

Data 4:

Teacher: “Sam, what is the outside of a tree called?” Sam: “I don’t know.”

Teacher: “Bark, Sam, bark.” Sam: “Bow, wow, wow!”

(4)

Data 5:

A nun is undressing for a bath and while she's standing naked, there's a knock at the door. The nun calls, "Who is it?" A voice answers, "A blind salesman."

The nun decides to get a thrill by having the blind man in the room while she's naked so she lets him in. The man walks in, looks straight at the nun and says, "Uhhhh, well hello there, can I sell you a blind, dearie...?"

2. Semantic Ambiguity

Lexical Ambiguity

Data 6:

Teacher: “Give me a sentence with an ‘object’ in it.”

Student: “Teacher, you are the most beautiful lady I have ever seen.”

Teacher: “Thank you, but what’s the ‘object’?” Student: “I’d like to go home a little earlier today”

Data 7:

There were three little boys visiting their grandparents.

The oldest came out and asked his grandpa, “Can you make a sound like a frog, Grandpappy?”

(5)

really want to make the sound of a frog now.”

So, the second little boy comes out and asks his grandfather, “Will you please make a sound like a frog?”

Grandpa again says, “No, not now. I don't really want to do that. I'm in a grumpy mood. Maybe later.”

Then the third little boy comes out and says, “Grandpa, oh please... please, please will you make a sound like a frog?” “Why do all of you boys want me to make a sound like a frog?” Grandpa asked.

The little boy replied with a hopeful face, “Well, Mom said that when you croak we get to go to Disney World!”

Data 8:

Son : Daddy, have you ever been to Egypt? Father : No. Why do you ask that?

Son : Well, where did you get mummy then?

Data 9:

Dancer : “Can’t you stretch the music a little longer—just a dance or two more?”

Band Leader: “Sorry, sir. This isn’t a rubber band!”

Data 10:

(6)

give me a ring?"

"Sure, " replied her lover "What's your phone number?"

Data 11:

A little nine year old girl was in church with her mother when she started

feeling ill. "Mommy," she said. "Can we leave now?" "No," her mother replied.

"Well, I think I have to throw up!"

"Then go out the front door and to the back of the church and throw up behind a bush." In about two minutes the little girl returned to her seat.

"Did you throw up?" her mother asked. "Yes," the little girl replied.

"Well, how could you have gone all the way to the back of the church and return so quickly?"

"I didn't have to go out of the church, Mommy." the little girl replied.

"They have a box next to the front door that says, 'For the sick'

Referential Ambiguity

Data 12:

A man speaks frantically into the phone, “My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!” ”Is this her first child?” the doctor queries.

(7)

Data 13:

A woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl’s grandmother. On their way through the cemetery back to the car, the little girl asked, “Mommy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?”

“Of course not, dear.” replied the mother, “Why would you think that?”

“The tombstone back there said ‘Here lies a lawyer and an

honest man’.”

Data 14:

Little Brother: "If you broke your arm in two places, what

would you do?"

Boy: "I wouldn't go back to those two places, that's for sure."

Elliptical Ambiguity

Data 15:

Teacher asks the children to discuss what their dad do for a living.

Little Mary says: “My Dad is a lawyer. He puts the bad guys in jail.”

Little Jack says: “My Dad is a doctor. He makes all the sick people better.”

All the kids in the class had their turn except Little Johnny. Teacher says: “Johnny, what does your Dad do?”

(8)

Johnny says: “My Dad is dead.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, but what did he do before he died?” “He turned blue and shat on the carpet.”

Data 16:

A Sunday school teacher asked her first graders. "Where is God?"

The room was filled with children that raised their hands to respond.

"Okay, Mary, Where is God?" "He is everywhere,"

"Very good that’s right."

But still there were two children that didn’t put their hands down,

so the teacher continued.

"Okay, Michael, Where is God?" "God is inside me."

"Very good that’s right."

Now there was one boy sitting in the back of the class waiving his hand.

He was the last child with his hand up, so the teacher called on him.

"Okay, Danny, Where is God?" "He’s in our bathroom."

(9)

Well the teacher just had to ask, "How do you know he’s in the bathroom?"

The answer came, "Every morning my father knocks on the bathroom door and says,

‘My God are you still in there?’"

Data 17:

"Doctor, please hurry. My son swallowed a razor-blade." "Don't panic, I'm coming immediately. Have you done

anything yet ?"

"Yea, I shaved with the electric razor."

Data 18:

An excited man calls the fire department and says, "Help me, my house is on fire!!"

The fireman says, "Where do you live?"

The man replies, "I am too excited, I can't tell you the exact address."

The fireman asks, “How do you expect us to get there?” The man replies, “What do you mean ‘how’? The big red truck”

Data 19:

"Doctor, doctor, will I be able to play the violin after the

(10)

"Yes, of course..."

"Great! I never could before!"

3. Phonological Ambiguity Data 20:

A: What do you call a deer with no eyes? B: No idea. (No Eye Deer.)

A: What do you call a dead deer with no eyes? B: Still no idea.

Data 21:

A bus load of tourists arrives at Runnymede. They gather around the guide who says, "This is the spot where the barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta."

A fellow at the front of the crowd asks, "When did that happen?"

"1215," answers the guide.

The man looks at his watch and says, "Damn! Just missed it by a half hour!"

Data 22:

A sixth grade class is doing some spelling drills. The teacher asks Tommy if he can spell 'before.' He stands up and says, "Before, B-E-P-H-O-R."

(11)

The teacher says, "No, that's wrong. Can anyone else spell before?"

Another little boy stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-O-R." Again the teacher says, "No, that's wrong." The teacher asks, "Little Johnny, can you spell 'before'?"

Little Johnny stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-R-E." "Excellent Johnny, now can you use it in a sentence?" Little Johnny says, "That's easy. Two plus two be fore."

Data 23:

Big Brother: "That planet over there is Mars." Little Brother: "Then that other one must be Pa's."

(12)

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Human beings are not created alone in this world. We have to relate with

other people and for this purpose we need communication. Communication is

important in our life because relationship is made through communication.

The means of communication is language. Language is ‘the system of sounds

and words that is used by human to express their thoughts and feelings’ (Oxford

Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 662). From the meaning of language above we can

see that sounds and words that are used in communication.

Sometimes a problem is caused by the fact that the word or the phrase used by

the speaker has more than one meaning. In communication this fact leads us to make

a mistake in interpreting the speaker’s utterance. Then this misinterpretation can

make our communication irrelevant with the context because the meaning that the

hearer catches is not the same as what the speaker actually means. From this

miscommunication, we can find that the difference between the speaker’s meaning

and the hearer’s meaning that occurs in communication may lead to something funny

as the wrong interpretation that occurs makes us laugh. In other words, this is what

we called as a joke.

(13)

A joke is ‘a thing said to cause amusement or laughter’ (Oxford Advanced

Learner’s Dictionary 641). People can make jokes intentionally and unintentionally.

A person makes a joke intentionally because he or she wants to entertain others.

Furthermore, we can also find that his or her utterance can be funny when we make a

mistake in interpreting what the speaker means as he or she uses ambiguous

expression.

In Linguistics, the problem that I mention above is termed Ambiguity. A

word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one possible meaning and

it is not clear which one is intended in the expression. (members.aol)

The theory of Ambiguity belongs to Syntax, Semantics and Phonology. It

belongs to Syntax when a word or a phrase in a sentence can be interpreted in more

than one way. The parsing of the sentences usually can influence the meaning of the

sentence (wikipedia). It belongs to Semantics when a word or a concept has an

inherent meaning, which makes the meaning of the word or the concept itself unclear

(wikipedia) ; furthermore, it belongs to Phonology when the words sound identical,

but in fact they have different meaning (Everything2.com). That is why sometimes in

communication we make a wrong interpretation and miscommunication happens.

I choose jokes as the sources of data for my research because the humorous

effect in the joke is caused by ambiguous expressions. The ambiguous expressions

that we find in the jokes can lead to misinterpretation. On top of that, many people

like jokes for jokes can produce humour and make us laugh. A joke is also a kind of

entertainment which is useful for us. We can even create our own jokes to entertain

(14)

others. It is refreshing when we hear jokes. By reading and understanding a joke, we

can also decrease our tension, stress and sadness and therefore we can also minimize

our burden.

In our daily life, a joke seems like a triviality because we think that there is

nothing serious about a joke. However; if we learn about it further, we can see that it

is not so simple as we think because in making as well as understanding a joke we

need creativity. We also need to have high linguistic competence. In making a joke,

one must be able to make use of some linguistic elements or features that can produce

a humorous effect. Likewise, in understanding a joke, one must be able to identify

and understand the linguistic element that creates the humorous effect in a joke. If we

do not understand the linguistic features that are used to produce humour, we will not

laugh and the essence of a joke becomes meaningless for us.

I find the data from the Internet and magazines because in my opinion the

Internet and magazines provide various jokes from various writers. I am going to

analyse jokes that contain ambiguous expression which can lead to misinterpretation.

This misinterpretation occurs because the two different contexts that are found in

communication in the joke can produce a humorous effect. I am going to analyse the

funny element that occurs in each of the jokes by using the ambiguity theories in

Linguistics, i.e. Syntactic Ambiguity, Semantic Ambiguity and Phonological

Ambiguity.

(15)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1. What ambiguous expression occurs in the joke creates misunderstanding?

2. What kind of ambiguity is it?

3. How does the misunderstanding produce a humorous effect on the reader?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

In this thesis I would like to show:

1. the ambiguous expression in the joke that creates misunderstanding.

2. the kind of ambiguity the expression is.

3. how the misunderstanding produces a humorous effect on the reader.

1.4 Method of Research

I gather the jokes from the Internet and magazines as my primary sources. I

read and select the data which contain misunderstandings that are caused by

ambiguity. Finally, I analyze each data through the theory of Ambiguity in Syntax

and Semantics and write the research report.

1.5 Organization of Thesis

This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction, which

consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study

and Method of Research. Chapter Two is Theoretical Framework, which consists of

the theories that I use to analyze the data. Chapter Three contains the analysis of the

(16)

jokes by using the theories of Ambiguity. Chapter Four contains the conclusion of my

research, and the last is Bibliography which contains the sources of my data.

(17)

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In the previous chapter, I have analysed how ambiguity can be a humorous element in the jokes because ambiguity can create misunderstanding. In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions based on the discussion in the previous chapter.

The theory of Ambiguity can be divided into three types: Syntactic Ambiguity, Semantic Ambiguity and Phonological Ambiguity. The writers of the jokes use the ambiguity which can create misunderstanding. In the end, this misunderstanding can produce a humorous effect. This is caused by the two different contexts between the characters in the jokes. In the joke that I have analysed in chapter three, I find that the writers of the jokes use ambiguous word as the cause of misunderstanding that occurs in the joke. The misunderstanding happens not only through the meaning of one word but also because of the sentence construction and the sound of the word or phrase which is uttered can have more than one interpretation. That is why, in my opinion, to understand a joke, the reader has to recognise the cause of the misunderstanding that occurs in the joke.

In the jokes that I have analysed, I find Syntactic Ambiguity in four jokes, Semantic Ambiguity in fourteen jokes and Phonological Ambiguity in four jokes.

(18)

Furthermore, the jokes can be classified based on the theory of Ambiguity. Syntactic Ambiguity, includes Structural Ambiguity and Categorial Ambiguity. In the joke that I have analysed, I find Structural Ambiguity in three jokes and Categorial Ambiguity in two jokes. The number of the jokes which contain Structural Ambiguity is more than Categorial Ambiguity. In my opinion, the jokes with Categorial Ambiguity are easier to understand than those with Structural Ambiguity. In the jokes which contain Categorial Ambiguity, the writer of the joke focuses on a word which has more than one meaning or belongs to more than one part of speech to create more than one interpretation. However, in using Structural Ambiguity, the writers of the joke use the ambiguous sentence construction that leads to misinterpretation. That is why, to understand the jokes, we have to parse the sentence to find the possible meanings of the sentence and not analyse it word by word.

In Semantic Ambiguity, I find Lexical Ambiguity, Elliptical Ambiguity and Referential Ambiguity. In the jokes that I have analysed, I find Lexical Ambiguity in six jokes, Referential Ambiguity in five jokes and Elliptical Ambiguity in three jokes. We can see that Lexical Ambiguity is most often used in the jokes. The writer of the jokes uses an ambiguous word to cause a misinterpretation in the joke. In my opinion, since the writer only focuses on an ambiguous word which belongs to the same part of speech, writing this kind of jokes is simpler than writing those which contain Elliptical Ambiguity or Referential Ambiguity.

From the explanation of Lexical Ambiguity and Categorial Ambiguity above, we can see that these two types of Ambiguity are quite similar because of the misunderstanding in this joke is caused by an ambiguous word. However, the jokes

(19)

with Categorial Ambiguity not only has more than one meaning, but also belongs to different parts of speech. Therefore, when the word is formed in a sentence, the writer of the joke has to make a sentence using a word that can have two functions in that sentence. That is why, to understand this kind of joke, the reader has to know the part of speech of the word. Otherwise, they will not get the joke for they think it is meaningless. We can see the word bark in data 4 and the word blind in data 5 can have two functions. In the joke, the word bark can function as a noun or a verb, and the word blind can function as an adjective or a noun. However, the word object in data 6, the word croak in 7, the word mummy in data 8, the word stretch in data 9, the word ring in data10 and the word sick in data 11 only has one function. Although in the dictionary each word above may belong to more than one part of speech yet in the joke each of them only belongs to one part of speech. That is why; it is easier for the reader to understand this kind of joke.

As I analysed the jokes in the previous chapter, I can see that the writers of the jokes often uses a child character to misunderstand an ambiguous expression in the joke. We can see that eleven jokes use the children characters such as in data 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22 and 23. When someone talks to children, they will respond to it based on what they know although the context is different from the speaker. The misinterpretation of a child is used by the writers of the jokes to produce a humorous effect. The writer of the joke uses a child as one of the characters because of their innocence and their lack of knowledge. That is why, in the joke, this child is used to be the character who can create misunderstanding.

After analysing the ambiguity which occurs in the joke, I come to the conclusion that ambiguity plays an important role in a joke. The writers of the jokes

(20)

many words which have more than one meaning and may belong to more than one part of speech. Besides, the words or phrases in English sometimes have identical sound. These facts help the writers in making jokes.

I also find that all jokes that I have analysed can be found in the daily conversation with other people. It shows that whether or not we realise it, we can create misunderstanding in our communication which further will make our communication irrelevant. This misunderstanding can be caused by the ambiguous expression which is used which further we may think it is funny because of the two different interpretations occurring in our communication.

(21)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Crane, L. B. et al. An Introduction to Linguistics. Boston: Little, Brown & Co,1981.

Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Jonathan Crowter. Fifth Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Yoseph. ”Jokes.” Smart Journal. 7th edition. 9.

Internet Sources

Broadcaster.org.uk: workjokes. 26 October 2007 <http://www.broadcaster.org.uk>

Broadcaster.org.uk: Parentingjokes. 26 October 2007 <http://www.broadcaster.org.uk>

Brownielocks.com: Jokes. 26 October 2007 <http://www.brownielocks.com> Everything.com: Phonological%2520 ambiguity. 16 June 2008

<http://www.everything2.com>

Freepatentsonline.com: 5060155. 16 June 2008 <http://www.freepatentsonline.com>

Inman, Dave. “Ambiguity”. 2005. 16 November 2007 <http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/inmandw/ir/ambiguity/ambiguity.ppt>.

(22)

Jamshedpurlive.com: Joke16. 26 October 2007. <http://www.jamshedpurlive.com>

Jokes2go.com: Jokes. 26 October 2007 <http://www.jokes2go.com> Jokeshub.net: A_necessary_condition. 9 november 2007

<http://www.jokeshub.net>

Members.aol.com: Crithink. 9 November 2007 <http://members.aol.com> Wikipedia.org: Ambiguity. 9 November 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org> Workjoke.com: Projoke35. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke40. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke80. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke81. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke83. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke85. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com> Workjoke.com: Projoke88. 26 October 2007 <http://www.workjoke.com>

(1)