Cover not available
Article published In:
The interpersonal functions of public signs during the Covid-19 pandemic
Edited by Eva Ogiermann
[Pragmatics and Society 14:2] 2023
► pp. 236–256

Pragmatic functions of humor in Berlin’s directive Covid-19 Signs

ORCID logo | European University ViadrinaFrankfurt (Oder)
This paper deals with the pragmatic functions of verbal and visual humor in Covid-19 related directive signs. Within the framework of material and social semiotics, I analyze humorous directive signs from the Berlin district Friedrichshain communicating hygiene rules and proper social behavior during the re- opening phase of local businesses after the first lockdown in 2020. The interplay of multilingual, graphic and intertextual features in the signs reveals two pragmatic functions: On the one hand, they express hygienic measures; on the other hand, the signs do relational work and foster community-building aimed at both general and very specific audiences. This is done by drawing humorously on community-specific intertextuality requiring cultural literacies based on community-specific knowledge. The signs are, thus, not limited to mere instructions for action addressed to a general audience, but are designed for specific groups of addressees thereby showing the socially and spatially fragmented diversity of Berlin’s public sphere.
Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, directive signs, Berlin, humor, multimodality, community-building
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Directives, public signs and social semiotics
    • 2.2Humor in directive signs
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data collection
  • 5.Data analysis
    • 5.1General addressees and humor in Covid-19 directives
    • 5.2Double-layered humor in Covid-19 directives
    • 5.3Community specific humor in Covid-19 directives
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 July 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22010.val
References (37)
References
Alsadi, Wejdan, and Martin Howard. 2021. The Multimodal Rhetoric of Humour in Saudi Media Cartoons [Humor Research 12]. Berlin & New York: de Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore. 1994. Linguistic Theories of Humor [Humor research 1]. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2020. The Linguistics of Humor. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore, and Jean-Charles Chabanne. 1992. Jokes as a Text Type. Humor 51: 165–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore, and Victor Raskin. 1991. Script Theory Revis(it)ed: Joke similarity and joke representation model. Humor 3 (4): 293–347. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Billig, Michael. 2005. Laughter and Ridicule: Towards a Social Critique of Humour. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan, and April Huang. 2010. Semiotic and Spatial Scope: towards a materialist semiotics. In Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 621. London: King’s College London. [URL]
Blommaert, Jan, and Ico Maly. 2014. Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Analysis and Social Change: A case study. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies 1001. Tilburg: University of Tilburg.Google Scholar
Böhme, Johannes. 2017. BVG Marketing. ’Du bist so funny dicka. In brand eins 21. [URL]. Last access 20.9.2021.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, and Margret Selting. 2018. Interactional Linguistics. Studying Language in Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
El Refaie, Elisabeth. 2009. What Makes Us Laugh? Verbo-visual Humour in Newspaper Cartoons. In The World Told and the World Shown: Multisemiotic Issues, Eija Ventola and Arsenio Jesús Moya Guijarro (eds), 75–89. London/New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Feyaerts, Kurt, and Geertrui Heyvaert. 2021. Welcome Back, We’ve Missed You! Humanized Business Communication in Shop Window Messages during Early 2020 Lockdown. Languages 6 (104): 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forceville, Charles. 2014. Relevance Theory as Model for Analysing Visual and Multimodal Communication. In Visual Communication, David Machin (ed), 51–70 [Handbooks of Communication Science 4]. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gal, Susan. 2019. Making Registers in Politics: Circulation and ideologies of linguistic authority. Journal of Sociolinguistics 23 (5): 450–466. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grice, H. P. 1975. Logic and Conversation. In Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan (eds), 41–58. New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. 1978. Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. University Park, Md: Maryland University Press.Google Scholar
Hopkyns, Sarah, and Melanie van den Hoven. 2021. Linguistic Diversity and Inclusion in Abu Dhabi’s Linguistic Landscape During the COVID-19 Period. Multilingua: 1–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jaworski, Adam, and Crispin Thurlow (eds.). 2010. Semiotic Landscapes. Language, Image, Space. London & New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Jewitt, Carey. 2014. An Introduction to Multimodality. In The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis, Carey Jewitt (ed), 15–30. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design [Second Edition]. London &New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
LAGeSo, Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales (LAGeSo). 2021. [URL]. Last accessed 20.9.2021.
Locher, Miriam A., and Richard J. Watts. 2008. Relational Work and Impoliteness: Negotiating norms of linguistic behaviour. In Impoliteness in Language. Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, Derek Bousfield and Miriam A. Locher (eds), 77–99. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Steve. 2021. Navigating COVID-19 Linguistic Landscapes in Vancouver’s North Shore: Official signs, grassroots literacy artefacts, monolingualism, and discursive convergence. International Journal of Multilingualism 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mautner, Gerlinde. 2012. Language, Space and the Law: A study of directive signs. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 19 (2): 189–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ogiermann, Eva, and Spyridoula Bella. 2021. On the Dual Role of Expressive Speech Acts: Relational work on signs announcing closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Pragmatics 1841: 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pütz, Martin, and Neele Mundt (eds). 2019. Expanding the Linguistic Landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Raskin, Victor. 1985. Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Samson, Andrea C., and Oswald Huber. 2007. The Interaction of Cartoonist’s Gender and Formal Features of Cartoons. Humor 201: 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Stefan. 2010. Mitigation. In Interpersonal Pragmatics [Handbooks of Pragmatics 6], Miriam A. Locher and Sage L. Graham (eds), 253–269. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie. 2010. Humour. In Interpersonal Pragmatics [Handbooks of Pragmatics 6], Miriam A. Locher and Sage L. Graham (eds), 308–326. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scollon, Ron, and Suzie Wong Scollon. 2003. Discourses in Place: Language in the material world. New York & London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, John R. 1982. Ausdruck und Bedeutung – Untersuchungen zur Sprechakttheorie. Frankfurt a. Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Svennevig, Jan. 2021. How to Do Things with Signs. The Formulation of Directives on Signs in Public Spaces. Journal of Pragmatics 1751: 165–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsakona, Villy. 2009. Language and Image Interaction in Cartoons: Towards a multimodal theory of humor. Journal of Pragmatics 411: 1171–1188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. Scrutinising intertextuality in humour: Moving beyond cultural literacy and towards critical literacy. The European Journal of Humour Research 8 (3): 40–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vallentin, Rita. 2019. Language and Belonging. Local Categories and Practices in a Guatemalan Highland Community [Linguistic Construction of Social Boundaries: Identities and Belonging, Vol. 4]. Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 1998. German ‘Cultural Scripts’: Public signs as a key to social attitudes and cultural values. Discourse and Society 9 (2): 241–282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Bella, Spyridoula & Eva Ogiermann
2024. Pragmatics in the service of marketing: The case of COVID-19 semi-commercial public signs. Journal of Pragmatics 221 ► pp. 32 ff. DOI logo
Tseng, Ming-Yu
2023. Rén qíng wèi (‘flavour of human feelings’) in the pragmeme of delivering Covid-19 directives. Journal of Pragmatics 218 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.