| Summary: | Teasing is a ubiquitous form of interaction amongst friends and family. Teasing can be
complex and can be used as a form of playful provocation serving the functions of
challenging the target, annoying or encouraging the target to take up the invitation to engage
in humorous exchange. In all, teasing can serve several functions.To my knowledge, there
has yet to be a study focusing specifically on the functions of teasing amongst young
Singaporeans. Singapore’s unique background presents an interesting case to look into.
This study aims to look at the various functions of teasing used by Singaporeans. The ten
participants involved in this study are all Chinese Singaporeans. Given that teasing occurs
more commonly between friends and intimates, these participants are natural groups of
friends. Participants’ conversations are recorded and subsequently transcribed. Instances of
teasing are then picked out for analysis. The functions as identified in my study are: Teasing
for fun and bonding, teasing for mitigating conflicts and tension, protection of face (others),
protection of face (self), teasing for controlling and corrective purposes and teasing as a form
of criticisms and disagreements. Amongst the functions mentioned, teasing for fun and
bonding is the most commonly used function amongst participants. Teasing to protect the
face of others is the least frequent function used by participants in my study. The findings of
the functions and frequency with relation to Singapore are conflicting. Perhaps, when it
comes to Singaporeans, culture has less of an influence affecting our functions of teasing.
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