VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
********************* ĐẶNG NGỌC LY HUMOR IN L.A. HILL’S STORIES FOR REPRODUCTION AND
THEIR POSSIBLE USES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS
AT THANH HÓA FISHERIES VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

Sự hài hước trong tập truyện cười Stories for Reproduction của L.A. Hill
và khả năng sử dụng tập truyện vào giảng dạy Tiếng Anh cho học sinh
trường Trung cấp Thuỷ sản Thanh Hoá

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

listed in the References part of the study. Thanh Hóa, August 2014

Signature
Đặng Ngọc Ly
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study is an attempt to uncover ways of humor creation in the collection
Elementary Stories for Reproduction by L.A. Hill from both of linguistic and socio-
cultural perspectives. It provides learners of English with better understanding of
English jokes and funny stories. To complete this research, the theoretical
background of the factors creating humor is worked out for the interpretations. The
findings from the analysis have revealed the typical features that cause laughter in
the collection. Finally, the study suggests some interesting activities designed for
English language teaching and learning with the aim to use jokes as a useful
material to motivate students. Therefore, learners of English can understand and
make full use of funny stories to make English learning less challenging.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
ABBREVIATIONS ivi
LIST OF TABLE iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Purposes of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Significance of the study 2
6. Methodology 2
6.1. Research method 2
6.2. Subject of study 3
6.3. Procedure 3
7. Structure of the thesis 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Theoretical background 4
1.1.1. Humor 4
1.1.2. Pun 5

2. Pedagogic implications for teacher 38
3. Limitation and Suggestion for further research 38
REFERENCES 39
1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
This part gives rationale, purposes, the research questions and methods, the
scope of the study and the structure of the thesis.
1. Rationale
The value of humor is extremely obvious in everyday life. Humor can lessen
stress, increase productivity and manifest satisfaction with life. However, is humor
valued in the classroom? Discussing this question, I would like to refer to this
quote, “Humor will not necessarily cause learning, but there is empirical evidence
to support the idea that humor creates conditions conducive to learning” (Ferguson
& Campinha-Bacote, 1989; Hill, 1988; Schwarz, 1989; Warnock,1989; Walter,
1990). Many researchers and teachers believe humor can be a valued tool in the
classroom. For instance, Jill P. Viers, in her writing Using Humor as a Teaching
Tool (2008) pointed out that “humor can reduce stress and anxiety, create a
comfortable learning environment, and increase motivation, comprehension, and
retention of information” while motivation is widely recognized as one of the most
important factors affecting second language acquisition. From my own experience, I
can confirm that humor can increase attention, motivation, excitement, and
interactions among students and between teacher and students therefore it can bring
class together.
In order to bring humor to the language classroom for the above recognized

This study is conducted in the belief that my own and my students‟
knowledge of the English language and culture, particularly humor through the
medium of English, can be enhanced, which definitely benefits both teachers and
students alike. Furthermore, activities that can be designed using the collection can
serve as a useful source of reference and a valuable tool for English teaching and
learning not only at my own institution but many others as well. Using these
activities in class will make English learning fun, enjoyable, full of laughter and
ultimately easier and more effective.
6. Methodology
6.1. Research method
The study will be conducted as follows:

3
i) Enumerating the features that create humor in the collection. Within the
constraints of this study, and given the English course for particular students at
my institution, I will focus just on the collection the Elementary, series 1.
ii) Classifying the jokes into categories in terms of humor features; then describe
and analyze them. This will provide answer to the first research question.
iii) Finally, possible activities will be suggested for the use of the collection in
teaching English to the students. In this way, answers to the 2
nd
research
question will be presented.
The major method employed in this study therefore is a qualitative one.
6.2. Subject of study
Stories for Reproduction by L.A. Hill, Elementary, series .
6.3. Procedure
- Firstly, data, including relevant theories and the jokes for analysis will be
collected. Relevant theories will be extracted from various linguistic books and
some related topics from the Internet and previous MA thesis.

with exams and competition, college-goers are to look for jobs, bread-earners have
to be concerned about their families, and housewives have to care for all the
domestic issues in their house. Everyone is caught up in this vicious circle of life.
There, at times, seems to be no way out of all these. Even though we may try to
bring about a sense of real-life humor, circumstances do not permit it (Avanija
Katiyar , 2011). People of all ages and cultures are able to experience humor.
Humor is considered as a form of entertainment and a form of human
communication with its aim to make people laugh and feel relaxed. Humor is also
considered as a part of culture, ability or quality of a person, enrich the language of
a person. A sense of humor is variable depending on age, sex, geographical
location, culture, maturity, level of education and context.
It is not disclaimed that humor is an important factor of teaching and learning.
Justifications for the use of humor include the promotion of understanding,
attracting the attention of students, creating a positive attitude to the subject matter,
and reducing anxiety. Empirical studies of the connections between humor and
learning are reviewed. These indicate that humor, in case it is used harmoniously,
can increase attention and interest and help to illustrate and reinforce what is being
taught. It is suggested that the presentation of humorous material involves skills
which can be learnt through practice and that staff development programs should

5
provide opportunities for academics to acquire such skills (J. P. Powell & L. W.
Andresen, 1985).
1.1.2. Pun
The English meaning of pun, which comes from the Italian word puntiglio
meaning “fine point” is the humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two
or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound so the pun
is a form of humor involving linguistic ambiguity. Humorous effects created by
puns depend upon the ambiguities words entail. The ambiguities arise mostly in
homophones and homonyms. For instance, in a sentence A happy life depends on a

category of speech, for example, can (a container of food – noun vs. to be able to –
verb). Inattentive use of ambiguous words can lead to humorous or even awkward
situations. Lexical ambiguity is ambiguity attributable to the fact that some
ambiguous words contained in the sentence causes the whole sentence to be
ambiguous. There are two type of lexical ambiguity: homonymy and polysemy.
1.1.4.1. Homonymy
Knowing a word means knowing both its sounds and its meaning. Both are
crucial in determining whether words are the same or different. If words differ in
pronunciation but have the same meaning, such as sofa and couch, they are different
words. Likewise, words with identical pronunciation but significantly different
meanings, such as tale and tail, are also different words. Spelling is not relevant,
only pronunciation. Thus, bat the animal and bat for hitting baseballs are different
words because they have different meanings although they are pronounced
identically.
Words like tale and tail are homonyms. Homonyms are different words that
are pronounced the same, but may or may not be spelled the same. To, too, and two
are homonyms despite their spelling differences.
Homonyms can create ambiguity. A word or a sentence is ambiguous if it
can be understood or interpreted on more than one way. The sentence I’ll meet you
by the bank may mean “I’ll meet you by the financial institution” or “I’ll meet you
by the riverside”. Homonymy is one of most important sources of popular humor as
well as confusion:
“Waiter !”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is this ?”

7
“It’s bean soup, sir.”
“Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now”
Bean, noun and been, past participle of to be are homonyms. They are in the

like structure on a building for smoke to escape through vs. narrow vertical space
rocks up which a climber can wriggle by pressing against the sides), both senses
contain the concept of a narrow vertical shaft in some solid material. Cases of
polysemy are numerous in a language system. In the dictionary, the great majority
of lexical items are polysemous.
Homonymy and polysemy are closely related and often treated together
because on face value, what we see is various meanings are associated with the
same forms. They are distinguished from each other in terms of semantic
relatedness. If different meanings associated with one form are perceived as related,
they constitute a polysemantic word; if these meanings are not related in any way,
they are treated as homonyms. However, in practice it is difficult to draw a clear
line between homonymy and polysemy. The difference between a polysemy and
a homonym is difficult to determine.
1.1.5. Grammatical/structural ambiguity
Structural ambiguity is ambiguity does not lie in the words but rests on two
or more possibilities of relationship of modification among words contained in the
sentence.
Structural ambiguity occurs when a phrase or sentence has more than one
underlying structure, such as the phrases Tibetan history teacher, a student of high
moral principles and short men and women, and the sentences The girl hit the boy
with a book and Visiting relatives can be boring. These ambiguities are said to be
structural because each such phrase can be represented in two structurally different
ways, e.g., [Tibetan history] teacher and Tibetan [history teacher]. Indeed, the
existence of such ambiguities provides strong evidence for a level of underlying
syntactic structure . Consider the structurally ambiguous sentence, The chicken is
ready to eat, which could be used to describe either a hungry chicken or a broiled
chicken. It is arguable that the operative reading depends on whether or not the
implicit subject of the infinitive clause to eat is tied anaphorically to the subject the
chicken of the main clause.
It is not always clear when we have a case of structural ambiguity. Consider,

“Well, I gave mine turpentine and he died.”
“So did mine,” said Pete. (Misztal 1991:506)
Jokes are regarded to involve pragmatic ambiguity when they produce two
readings different in pragmatic function while the sentence structure, lexical items

10
and phonetic strings in both readings are identical. To be more specific, the
funniness of these jokes are created on the basis of a surprise aroused when the
intention and the result of the event conflict. That is to say between the two
speakers, there exists a misunderstanding or communication breakdown in
interpreting the exact pragmatic transaction or the intentional use of language.
1.1.6.1. Violation of socio-cultural norms
Norms are the agreed-upon expectations and rules by which a culture guides
the behavior of its members in any given situation. Of course, norms vary widely
across cultural groups. Americans, for instance, maintain fairly direct eye contact
when conversing with others. Asians, on the other hand, may avert their eyes as a
sign of politeness and respect
Sociologists speak of at least four types of norms: folkways, mores, taboos,
and laws. Folkways, sometimes known as “conventions” or “customs,” are
standards of behavior that are socially approved but not morally significant. For
example, belching loudly after eating dinner at someone else's home breaks an
American folkway. Mores are norms of morality. Breaking mores, like attending
church in the nude, will offend most people of a culture. Certain behaviors are
considered taboo, meaning a culture absolutely forbids them, like incest in U.S.
culture. Finally, laws are a formal body of rules enacted by the state and backed by
the power of the state. Virtually all taboos, like child abuse, are enacted into law,
although not all mores are. For example, wearing a bikini to church may be
offensive, but it is not against the law.
Members of a culture must conform to its norms for the culture to exist and
function. Hence, members must want to conform and obey rules. They first must

When only one of the maxims above is violated, misunderstanding can happen.
1.1.6.3. Presupposition
In everyday sense of presuppose, to presuppose something is to assume
something, or to take it for granted in advance, but not to say it. Since assuming
something is not normally considered an act but rather a state, presupposing is best
viewed as a state and not an act. Related to (pragmatic) presupposing is (pragmatic)
presupposition : that which is assumed or taken for granted. Clearly,
presuppositions are not acts, though they are related to them. This characterization
is pretty vague, but the phenomena cited in current linguistics under the label of

12
(pragmatic) presupposition are quite varied, and our characterization has at least
virtue of reflecting a common denominator among many different kinds of cases.
1.1.7. Stupidity/ foolishness
This is one more way to create humor in funny stories. Foolishness expresses
in one‟s actions, the most typical sample of this is an extremely famous film
character Mr Bean acted by British actor Rowan Atkinson, or one‟s sayings which
are very common in jokes in many languages. Foolishness may originates from
unequal knowledge levels, various cultures, dialect, misunderstanding or even
cognition.
1.2. Roles of humor in teaching English as a foreign language
In the past few years researchers have begun to show an interest in humor and
language play as it relates to second language learning (SLL). Tarone (2000) has
suggested that second language (L2) play may be facilitative of SLL, in particular
by developing sociolinguistic competence, as learners experiment with L2 voices;
and by destabilizing the interlanguage system, thus allowing growth to continue.
She recommends research examining the ways in which adult L2 speakers
interacting outside the classroom play with language as a way of learning more
about this issue. Using case study methodology to document the ways in which L2
verbal humor was negotiated and constructed by three advanced non-native

strategies with others. When everyone benefits, the acquisition of a foreign
language becomes “easy”, and learners become motivated and creative.
1.3. Previous studies on similar theme
Regarding the linguistic theories of humor and ambiguity, several previous
studies have been conducted in the linguistic study (Zhang Qing-lang, 2007; Robert
Lew , 1996 ; María Teresa Sanschez Roura , 1995). These theorists mainly focus on
how the humor is achieved by the use of language, especially by ambiguity.
In A discussion on Ambiguity in English (2007), Zhang Qing-lang attempted
to study the definition and classification of ambiguity, the factors underlying
ambiguity according to the research goal, method and criterion. Lexical ambiguity
is associated with polysemy and homonymy, syntactic ambiguity is the result of
different grouping of elements, and semantic ambiguity results from the different
logical relationships between elements.
Robert Lew at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, in Exploitation of
Linguistic Ambiguity in Polish and English Jokes (1996), claimed that : Whether

14
jokes based on pragmatic ambiguity should be treated on a par with syntactic,
lexical and phonological ambiguity is debatable. If translatability is to be taken as a
valid test for linguistic jokes, then jokes exploring pragmatic ambiguity should be
excluded. On the other hand, there are many instances of jokes based on syntactic
ambiguity which are translatable, though obviously not as universally as pragmatic
jokes. If the distinction between linguistic and non-linguistic jokes is to be upheld, it
is best kept so as to exclude pragmatic jokes.
Beside, María Teresa Sanschez Roura (1995) in Syntactic Ambiguity as a
Device in British Humour asserted that the ambiguity at the syntactic level in the
English language focuses on its resourceful applications in the creation of jokes.
Such ambiguity is therefore regarded as something to be exploited in language
rather than avoided. One important conclusion will be that British humor should be
regarded as “strange” by speakers of other languages, who can only access to it by

Lexical ambiguity
Homonymy
20
~3%
Polysemy
8
~3%
Pragmatic
ambiguity
Violation of
conversational
maxims
6, 9, 10, 22, 24, 25
20%
Violation of socio-
cultural norms
1, 3, 11, 12, 14,
15, 16, 17, 18, 23,
26, 27, 30
43%
Presuppositions
13
~3%
Stupidity/Foolishness
5, 19, 21, 28, 29
~17%
Puns
2, 4, 7
10%


you some food for your lunch. Is that all right?”
“Oh, yes” her husband answered, “That’s quite all right. What are you
going to leave for my lunch?”
“This tin of fish,” Mrs. Petty said.

17
“Good,” Mr. Petty answered, “I’ll have a good lunch.”
At three o’clock Mrs. Petty came home.
“Was your fish nice, Jack?” she asked.
“Yes, but my feet are hurting,” he answered.
“Why are they hurting?” Mrs. Petty asked.
“Well, the words on the tin were, “Open tin and stand in hot water for five
minutes”.
Second come socio-cultural norms on behaviors and interpersonal relations.
Story No. 1 can help illustrate this point:
Jack was a young sailor. He was often away with his ship. After a long
voyage, he came back and fell in love with his new neighbor, Gloria. One day, he
sent her a wonderful parrot from a port in Africa which could speak five languages.
However, when Jack’s ship reached Australia, he received a letter from Gloria. It
said, “Thank you for your parrot, Jack. It tasted much better than a chicken”.
Young lovers normally present each other various gifts on numerous
occasions, which, more often than not, are symbolic of their love rather than the
gifts‟ actual use value. To almost everyone, parrots are known as nice pets for their
ability to imitate human voices and their beauty, amongst others. Jack wanted to
give Gloria this talking parrot as something very special to keep her company as if
he were always with her. Yet, it can be inferred that this girl Gloria may have little
appreciation of beauty or very strong desire for exotic food, so the poor bird found
itself vanish in her stomach. Definitely, Gloria‟s failure to understand the
significance of Jack‟s act of sending her the parrot would seriously damage, or even
destroy their relation.