PRESUPPOSITIONS AND HUMOR CREATION IN LOUIS SZEKELY’S CHEWED UP STANDUP COMEDY: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Abstract

This research focuses on humor in Szekely’s Chewed Up standup comedy and aims to (1) identify the types of presuppositions, (2) reveal the forms of humor created by the presuppositions, (3) observe the functions of the humor.  This  research  employed  mixed-methods  approach.  Qualitative  approach  was  applied  to  describe  the findings of presupposition and humor creation, while quantitative approach was utilized to obtain the frequency of the data occurences to support the qualitative description. The data were in the form of utterances employed by Szekely. The context of the data were the monologue. The sources of the data were the transcripts of Szekely’s utterances in his standup comedy.The researcher himself was the primary instrument, supported by the data sheet as the secondary instrument. The trustworthiness of the data was obtained by triangulation. The results of the research show the findings. First, there are six types of presupposition employed in the standup comedy: existential presupposition,  factive  presupposition,  lexical  presupposition,  structural  presupposition,  non-factive presupposition,  and  counter-factual  presupposition. Second, there  is  only one form of  humor  created by the presuppositions:   spontaneous   conversational   humor.   Third,   all   of   the   functions:   social   management, decommitment, mediation, and defunctionalization, exists in the data.

Keywords: pragmatics, presupposition, humor, standup comedy, Louis Szekely