Categorizing function of canned jokes in mass media texts

Abstract

The article discusses the use of canned jokes in mass media texts and radio programs. The study is focused on the categorizing function of canned jokes and their role in the explanation of the state of affairs. Initially an oral genre, canned jokes often function as culturally significant texts which refer to certain typical situations. Being cited or told in the context of a newspaper article or a radio program, jokes become a kind of cognitive scheme on the basis of which the current situation is explained. Such use of canned jokes as tools for categorization differs from telling jokes with the aim to entertain. In mass media discourse canned jokes are used in discussions of acute social problems: they make the understanding of a situation easier for participants and at the same time they ease emotional tension which is characteristic of discussions of important social issues. As part of another text, canned jokes function as multifaceted tool, which makes it easier to convey information and implicit meaning. The article analyses the relations between components of the two situations: the one described in the canned joke and the real one. It is claimed that an understanding of current affairs is the result of conceptual integration of the two situations. Relative contextual independence is the genre property of canned jokes which allows them to function as a categorization tool. Language speakers use them as culturally significant texts and establish cross-textual connections that activate additional knowledge about the world.