Deconstructing imagined identities and imagined communities through humor

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to explore humor as a means for deconstructing identities in humorous narratives written by adult L2 learners. Norton Pierce’s (1995) notions of investment in L2 learning, imagined identities, and imagined communities as well as the concepts of script opposition and target employed for the sociopragmatic analysis of humor (Attardo 2001) are exploited for demonstrating how humor constitutes a means for deconstructing L2 learners’ imaginary projections and investments in L2. The analysis reveals that L2 learners use humor in their narratives to account for their failure to fulfill their imagined identities as competent speakers and legitimate members of the host community, or for the flouting of their expectations concerning the behavior of the members of the imagined host community. Moreover, humor emerges as a strategy allowing learners to attenuate potential threats against their own positive face or that of host community members (Brown and Levinson 1987).