The role of laughter and gender identity in the construction of humor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.1.13.1.3426Keywords:
LAUGHTER, HUMOR, GENDER, IDENTITY, CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS, PRAGMATICSAbstract
Humor and laughter are intertwined pragmatic phenomena that play a central role in conversational interaction. In colloquial Spanish, laughter is not merely a reaction to humor but a resource for negotiating social relations and performing identities, including gender identity. This article examines how different types of laughter contribute to affiliative or disaffiliative dynamics in humorous utterances, and how these dynamics participate in the construction of gendered identities. Drawing on conversational data from the Val.Es.Co. 2.0 and Briz & Val.Es.Co. corpora (2002), in which laughter is explicitly annotated, we analyze a set of representative examples illustrating how men and women deploy laughter differently as a conversational strategy. The findings reveal patterns: while affiliative laughter predominates in both genders, disaffiliative laughter is more frequently used among male speakers as a means of challenging or mocking interlocutors, whereas female speakers tend to avoid direct attacks on present participants. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of how laughter indexes stance, alignment, and gendered identity work in everyday conversation.
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