Code-Switching In Bilingual Anglo-French Humour A Study Across Comedy Films, Stand-Up Shows, And Jokes

Abstract

The practice of code-switching stands as a fundamental element in bilingual humour because it produces comedic effects through alternating between languages. The existing research on bilingual humour has treated it as a single, unified category without conducting detailed examinations of code-switching functions between different genres. Furthermore, Anglo-French bilingual humour has received less scholarly attention than other bilingual language combinations that have achieved global recognition. This research examines whether there are genre-specific tendencies in the distribution of code-switching functions across three genres of Anglo-French bilingual humour, namely a comedy film, a stand-up performance, and a collection of bilingual jokes. The thesis used mixed methods research approach to examine how genre conventions affect intentions behind the use of code-switching in the three genres under study. First, one primary communicative function was identified for each instance of code-switching. Then, it was measured which communicative functions appeared most frequently in each genre. The results showed that the comedy film contained the most instances of code-switching, which primarily served expressive, referential, and directive functions. The stand-up performance displayed a more balanced distribution of functions, with metalinguistic and phatic uses appearing at a higher rate than in the film. The jokes, on the other hand, primarily utilised the poetic function of code-switching. The paper indicates that genre-specific goals and constraints determine the communicative functions of code-switching. This research provides new insights into bilingual humour by demonstrating that genre-based analysis is essential for its proper understanding.