Pragmatics of Code Selection and Alternation in Nigerian Stand-up Comedy
Keywords:
Voicing, Nigerian Stand-up comedy, Context, Narrative levels, code selectionAbstract
The realisations of joke performances are subtly and richly encrusted in linguistic and discourse strategies. In a multilingual setting, stand-up comedians need to negotiate the linguistic code(s) to convey their jokes. This study analyses how Nigerian stand-up comedians negotiate codes and voice within the performance space. Although studies have identified the use of code alternation in stand-up performances, the pragmatic and performance functions of code selection in Nigerian stand-up comedy have not been examined. This study, therefore, attempts to fill this vacuum by analysing code switching, selection and voice alternation in purposively selected routines of four Nigerian stand-up comedians. Inputs from functional approaches to code switching and code selection, the concept of voice, and the notions of context and contextualisation are key to this study. Nigerian stand-up comedians adopt two contexts: context-of-the-joke and context-in-the-joke, which are synchronous with the primary and secondary narrative levels in the performances. Selecting and alternating codes within a routine is a strategy which indicates who speaks in the narration of jokes.
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