Manipulative Potential of Humor in Business Media Discourse: Drawing up a “Starter Pack” for LSP Teaching

Abstract

The article investigates the manipulative potential of humor in business media discourse and its application in Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) teaching. Recognizing humor as a tool for simplifying complex ideas and engaging a broad audience, the study aims to identify the functional-stylistic means through which humor is conveyed in business media, focusing on its capacity to influence audience perceptions and attitudes. Employing continuous sampling along with descriptive, comparative, and discursive methods, the research analyzes utterances from Russian- and English-language business media to explore humor’s various functions – such as persuasion, focus-setting, and entertainment – and how these can be harnessed to facilitate linguistic manipulation. The findings reveal that humor, through rhetorical devices like metaphors, idioms, understatement, allusion, sarcasm, and oxymoron, plays a key role in making business concepts accessible and engaging. A “starter pack” of tools is identified for LSP education, equipping students to recognize and utilize humor’s manipulative power in professional contexts. This toolkit aims to prepare future business communicators to craft and recognize humorous statements. Implications for LSP educators, students, and business communication professionals are significant, advocating for an integrated approach in curricula that balances the creative and manipulative implementation of humor. This prepares students for global business communication, emphasizing humor’s strategic importance in effective leadership.