Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis)
This essay explores immigrants’ bilingual humor viewed as part of secondary language socialization. Adult acquisition of a new language involves reflections about languages and language play which juxtaposes and compares the mother tongue with the language of the receiving society. Acquiring a new l...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Russian journal of linguistics: Vestnik RUDN |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/9328 |
| _version_ | 1818602037015740416 |
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| author | Maria Yelenevskaya |
| author_facet | Maria Yelenevskaya |
| author_sort | Maria Yelenevskaya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay explores immigrants’ bilingual humor viewed as part of secondary language socialization. Adult acquisition of a new language involves reflections about languages and language play which juxtaposes and compares the mother tongue with the language of the receiving society. Acquiring a new language, émigrés do experiments with the form and create new meanings. In the early stages the bulk of bilingual humor is based on simplest interlingual puns exploiting minimal pairs, malapropisms and discovery of obscene words in foreign lexis. As immigrants’ proficiency in the language of the host society increases, their humor becomes more sophisticated focusing on social criticism and in-group solidarity rather than on mere juggling of phonetically similar words. Texts analyzed in the article testify that the Russian language has preserved its symbolic value among new Israelis and they use bilingual humor as a warning against the first-language attrition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T13:00:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-20a87aa6eea341c2bcea1df98fc89c24 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2312-9182 2312-9212 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T13:00:54Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Russian journal of linguistics: Vestnik RUDN |
| spelling | doaj.art-20a87aa6eea341c2bcea1df98fc89c242022-12-21T22:30:51ZengPeoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)Russian journal of linguistics: Vestnik RUDN2312-91822312-92122014-12-01037279327Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis)Maria Yelenevskaya0Израильский политехнический институт (Технион)This essay explores immigrants’ bilingual humor viewed as part of secondary language socialization. Adult acquisition of a new language involves reflections about languages and language play which juxtaposes and compares the mother tongue with the language of the receiving society. Acquiring a new language, émigrés do experiments with the form and create new meanings. In the early stages the bulk of bilingual humor is based on simplest interlingual puns exploiting minimal pairs, malapropisms and discovery of obscene words in foreign lexis. As immigrants’ proficiency in the language of the host society increases, their humor becomes more sophisticated focusing on social criticism and in-group solidarity rather than on mere juggling of phonetically similar words. Texts analyzed in the article testify that the Russian language has preserved its symbolic value among new Israelis and they use bilingual humor as a warning against the first-language attrition.http://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/9328двуязычиеюморкаламбурязыковая играязыковая рефлексиясмешение кодов |
| spellingShingle | Maria Yelenevskaya Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) Russian journal of linguistics: Vestnik RUDN двуязычие юмор каламбур языковая игра языковая рефлексия смешение кодов |
| title | Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) |
| title_full | Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) |
| title_fullStr | Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) |
| title_short | Immigrants’ Bilingual Humor: Language Play and Social Adaptation (The Case of Russian-Speaking Israelis) |
| title_sort | immigrants bilingual humor language play and social adaptation the case of russian speaking israelis |
| topic | двуязычие юмор каламбур языковая игра языковая рефлексия смешение кодов |
| url | http://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/9328 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariayelenevskaya immigrantsbilingualhumorlanguageplayandsocialadaptationthecaseofrussianspeakingisraelis |