прагматика и медиа дискурс / Mikhalkova_pragmatics_of_invective_some_corrections

the soundtrack “Ошибка резидента” (“Resident’s Mistake”): “…пил березовый сок”53 – the true Russian superman does not only drink the birch sap, but also sucks the tree out).

Dialogues are also common in Comedy Club. Sketches, done by duos, can be performed in different genres, like a short funny story (with one punch-line) or a developed routine, composed of narrative jokes (with several punch-lines). For example in the sketch “Фанат Алексея Глызина” (“Singer Alexey Glyzin’s Fan”) the dialogue is organized as a short story with few words and the plot-line developing in non-verbal acting:

“Здравствуйте! Пожалуйста, пачку сигарет”.—“Здравствуйте! Ох… Вы же… Вы же… Вы же мой единственный фанат!”—“Да, Алексей”

(Лена, фанат Глызина и семейная сцена).

In parodies the dialogue often consists of many jokes (like in the numerous newsreels parodies done by Sisters Zaycevs). Some parodies may require presence of three or more people, but the text organization does not change much from the dialogue.

All kinds of performances may contain one-liners: usually they will be altered proverbs and quotations, euphemistic puns. E.g. Sisters Zaycevs often end their performance with an altered proverb:

“Ну, и в заключение народная мудрость: на Бога надейся, а самбо занимайся” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя).

A sketch show, which is closer to the genre of variety, than stand-up, offers more opportunities for text organization, that is why routine monologues in SNL are often masked under parodies (e.g. “An Address from the All-But-Certain-To- Be Next President”). The most common form is dialogues and polylogues, when a third person interferes in the dialogue (e.g. a nosy waiter in “Pizzeria Uno”). The address to the audience can have different forms: host’s speech, parodies of ads, TV-guides and political addresses, a talk-show. For example, the ads parody “Dyson Toilet” starts with the words “Hello there!”.

53 /drank the birch sap/

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The parallel connection between jokes is quite popular. A good example is “Jar Glove” – a parody, where a house-wife accidentally kills her husband and passes through a number of misfortunes, trying to hide the body and then getting to jail:

“Opening jars. Every time, it’s the same old story... The twisting and turning... The aching and straining... The panicking... The dragging... The digging and burying...” (Jar Glove).

The verbal nouns describe the housewife’s actions in an abbreviated form – without details. The video gives a more sequential picture, making the text more explicit. The sketch show here uses the advantage to place a ready-made video into the broadcast, while the props or costumes in studio are changed. Another video demonstrates the use of two languages – oral and written – to create a humorous contradiction:

“Michael Phelps: “Because you don’t have to train like an Olympic athlete to have an Olympic body”. [ SUPER: “Yes You do” ]” (The Michael Phelps Diet).

It is not accidental that the two shows rely first of all on the text. It is the text that gives a canvas for the genre performance. As we claim, invective names are the key elements of the textual proposition in this genre. The analysis of 36 SNL scripts and 36 Comedy Club scripts, that are approximately equal in the total length performances, resulted in collecting 457 invective names.

The invective name, built according to the formula (§ 1.2.2.): “X is not X, but d”, where “d not-X”, is (according to the pragmatics of the language) a name, that the addressee assigns to the addresser – directly with the help of performatives of naming, unreal conditions, hyperbole, etc. The humorous situation presupposes markers for object’s nomination:

1.Performative verbs of naming: быть/являться, звать, назвать,

наречь, окрестить, прозвать, дать имя / кличку, to be, to name, to call, to nickname, to christen – and separate lexemes and word-groups, that allude to this naming: кличка, прозвище, “по имени…”, named, by name of etc.;

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2.Some formulas of speech: introducing somebody (“Познакомьтесь,

это – X…”, “Meet Mr. X…”), greeting (“Здорово, X!”, “Hello, X!”), address (“Эй, Х!”, “Hey, X!”), an introducing construction (“Один мой друг Х”, “Let me tell you about my friend X”) etc.;

3.Predicates, that do not coincide with the subject matter, because in reality the producer of the action could not accomplish such an action, because it does not match his or her accident54;

4.Unreal modality of the utterance. For example, in the previously sentence “Если бы Рембо провел во Вьетнамском плену двадцать лет, он бы выглядел именно так – Вадик Рембо Галыгин” (Comedy Club: The host announces Vadik ‘Rambo’ Galygin’s performance) the host ascribes the invective name Rambo to the existing person, at the same time noting with the help of Subjunctive Mood (the grammatical construction with the meaning of unreal – desired, presupposed – events), that this name is not real (“если бы… провел”, “выглядел бы…”);

5.Emotionally-colored lexis: vulgarisms (“X, черт его побери…”, “Damn it!”, “Bloody hell!”), colloquialisms (дура, дебил, idiot, fool), slang (телка, лох, dum-dum, boner) etc.

To illustrate the search for invective names let us analyze the following segment from Pavel Volya’s performance:

“Воля Павел – вот такой проект отличный будет: “Выступает ВоПа!”

Вышел я и группа: в ВоПе семь человек”55 (Аббревиатуры из имен и

фамилий звезд).

54Accident here means a philosophical notion, denoting sudden or temporary occurrences, unlike the subject matter – constant features, the essence. E. g. in the sentence “Подкрадываемся в маске Емели к щуке, выбиваем ей зубы, и щука наша…” (Общество ихтиофилов) the amateur fisherman claims, that he wears the mask of Yemelya (Yemelya is a fisherman from a Russian fairy tale) to attract pike. In reality fishermen do not wear masks, when fishing, although practically this situation is possible. That means that the substance of the profession is kept – to get as many fish as possible, using the best means for it, but the accident of wearing the mask of Yemelya is very individual – characteristic only of this very fisherman, who is at the same time a comedian on stage. Thus, we face features of some inexistent personality – a fisherman, who wears masks, which points at the not-H component of the invective name.

55A very approximate translation would be: “Volya Pavel could be a nice media project. “Today starring – VoPe!” And here we come: me and seven more people from the hole”. The idea of the pun is that “VoPe” is close to the Russian word “попа”, denoting buttocks, which means that Pavel’s musical group would be called “in the hole”.

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The componential and semantic analysis of the nominative word groups shows, that there are two competing namings: the comedian suggests to change his actual name (in this case it is his persona’s name – Pavel Volya) into “VoPe” – the abbreviation from the first two syllables. If we place them into the formula of invective names, we will get the following: “Pavel Volya is not Pavel Volya, but VoPe”, where “VoPe a musical groups, consisting of Pavel and seven more people”.

In his speech the comedian builds an accusation, based on the stereotyped opinion of the Russians about modern Russian TV-stars – they are not talented and get popular through good connections or some sexual service. For himself Pavel chooses such a name, that refers to the stereotyped image of buttocks (VoPe sounds like Russian “popa”, buttocks) as a misfortune (compare the English expression “in the hole” – in a bad situation), that is passed onto seven more people, that would be working together with Pavel. This image finds grounds in the archetype of trickster, where features of bottom are very meaningful. Consequently, the ascribed name lowers Pavel’s status to the trickster’s status and provokes laughter among the guests.

* * *

The following ten paragraphs contain a pragmatic and semantic analysis of invective names in the discourse of two shows – Comedy Club and Saturday Night Live. The analysis was conducted on the basis of the five rules, that regulate the pragmatics of derision and table 1. Levels of invective semantics (see § 1.2.1.).

§ 2.4.1. INVECTIVE OF PHYSICAL DEFICIENCIES

The invective of physical deficiencies gives a key to understanding the trickster’s image through naming features of his appearance. It can be an overlarge or mutilated part of the body, clothing and other attributes. Physical deficiencies do not threaten the society directly; they are a sign, that their bearer does not fit in the frames of the society, that is why he or she should be isolated or healed. There are

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28 invective names with the semantics of physical deficiencies in Comedy Club and 20 names – in SNL.

In the American TV-show physical deficiencies are connected with the concept of freak. The lexeme is frequently used in describing a weird appearance. For example, two sellers of fake unicorns advertise their goods:

“And look at the horn. It’s freakin’ 56 ridiculous!” (DiCicco Brothers Unicornery);

or a strangely looking policewoman “cracks” criminals with the help of her glasses and the bored look on her face:

“This fall drama’s got an attitude and a freaky small pair of glasses” (The Looker).

Another target is unattractiveness, especially concerning women:

“Hillary Clinton: “And stop calling us… “harpy”, “shrew”, and “boner shrinker” (A Non-Partisan Message From Sarah Palin & Hillary Clinton),

or men with an ordinary appearance, especially compared with celebrities: “James Franco: “See, here’s my I.D. Everyone looks bad in these pictures” (James Franco’s Monologue) –

the photo, shown by the actor, looks like a picture from a magazine.

There is another invective, where the appearance points at the violation of social standards or vocational maladjustment:

“Hillary Clinton: “…my sweet, teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy miniature friend, Dennis Kucinich. Somehow, I think I’ll miss you most of all” (An Address from the All-But-Certain-To-Be Next President).

In this example small height is accompanied by a blame of immaturity: Hillary Clinton’s address to her opponent is made in form of a speech, addressed to a little boy.

A characteristic feature of the Russian TV-show is a connection between physical deficiencies and bodily wastes, which is expressed rather openly:

56 The texts and videos of performances were obtained on the Internet. The underlining is done by the researcher. The parts underlined contain the d-components of invective names.

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“Бровь у него рассечена была такая. Ну, тут у него… Брызгал слюной,

шепелявил. Воняло от него. Воняло. Штын такой стоял”

(Одноклассники).

Hypertrophy of some traits and abilities is also notable:

“Непонятно, спиной или лицом стоит сумоист. Если это улыбка, то почему так?” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя); “63 литра нассал в лифте быдло из Мытищ” (Новый чемпионат мира по быдлу “Свинство-2005”).

Features like heaviness, bulkiness, metal parts are also often mentioned in this type of invective:

“Первый отечественный сотовый телефон представляет из себя 27-

килограммовый металлический куб” (Короткие анекдоты и мобильный телефон “Витязь”); “У русского супермена настолько стальные мышцы, что зимой к нему

языком прилипают дети” (Бессмертный о русском супермэне). Mutilations or defects such as thinness or blindness can become an object of a mockery:

“Если бы Рембо провел во вьетнамском плену 20 лет, он бы выглядел примерно так: Вадик Рембо Галыгин!” (Общество ихтиофилов), “ Крот,

если он слепой, нафиг он наружу вылазит. Чтоб посмотреть, прозрел?

Нет? Все, ладно” (Люди, не будьте животными), as well as parts of the body, that are not “in the right place”:

“Самый разрыв – это голубь. У него один глаз – здесь, другой – здесь.

Как он вперед… ходит?” (Люди, не будьте животными).

What kind of an image does the invective of physical deficiencies create? First of all, the unattractiveness is its most expressive feature; it separates an individual from the society immediately, marking the person as unattractive to the opposite sex. That is why the main physical deficiencies are obesity or extreme thinness, missing or dysfunction of a part of the body (blindness, deafness, boldness):

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“Joe Biden – with those obvious plugs57 you seem to think no one notices” (An Address from the All-But-Certain-To-Be Next President),

bad style of clothing, rags:

“Десять лет ходил в одних штанах. Если б не эти штаны, я б не узнал его даже” (Одноклассники).

Secondly, it is a hypertrophied physiology, strange form or size of organs: “У осы, как и у скорпиона, в попе жало, но у осы все намного меньше:

и жало, и попа” (Ядовитые твари),

or exceeding bodily wastes, for example, extreme sweating:

“Сумо – вид спорта, который привлекает мух” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя).

The aim of the speaker is to make an individual (addressee) look physically unattractive and become detached from the world of people, at the same time approaching the world of animals or sometimes the world of machines (in comparisons of humans with mechanic things).

Going back to the theory of invective names, the information about addressee always contains a lie and a piece of truth, for the name should be strictly associated with the person laughed at. In case of physical deficiencies truth is derived from the most obvious and well known features, but in an ordinary situation to name them is not necessary (as they are obvious) or would be against social norms. For example, if a person smells of sweat, it would be impolite to tell it directly – in a formal situation only a hint is acceptable. The invective violates this taboo, but in a hypertrophied form, causing a minimal cultural shock, followed by laughter. In the following example of a joke about plaice Vadik Rambo Galygin gives a statement:

“Все камбалы плоские… У камбалы глаза с одной стороны, а писька – с

другой” (Общество ихтиофилов).

The true information here is the description of anatomical structure of the fish. The description becomes invective due to the fact, that this kind of fish is

57 Hair transplants.

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defined as sexually unattractive (“flat” is an epithet for an extremely thin woman). The comedian goes on saying, that plaice should be “siliconed”, i.e. a fisherman should use silicon boobs for catching plaice. But at the same time for a biological species the characteristic “flat figure” does not have any value. The similar situation is found in other accusations. Perhaps, the sumo wrestlers sweat a lot but it does not mean, that they attract only flies, and Hillary Clinton cannot be seriously called “a boner shrinker”, at least because she is a married woman and has a daughter (which means she is successfully realized as a woman), though she is aged now.

Who is the ridiculer in the discussed type of invective? In the case with sumo wrestlers it is a sports commentator, with animals – a hunter, an amateur fisher, a pet shop-assistant, with Hillary Clinton – the reporters, with Comedy Club comedians – the host, with ladies – doubtful admirers. For all these people the subject of invective is a daily occupation or “a pray” (an animal for hunter, a celebrity or a politician for a journalist, etc.). The appearance of the ridiculers is not described, because in the invective they (and not the addressees) represent stereotypic groups of “searchers/treasure hunters” (the main function of the cultural hero). Thus, the invective is built on the pursuit of the object and not on the comparison of statuses.

As it was mentioned above, the goal of the ridiculer is to drive out from of the society those, whose appearance, sexual unattractiveness or mutilations provoke their unpopularity in the society. The ridiculer acts as a “hunter for trickster”, tracking him down by remarkable features and making the audience believe, his guess is correct.

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According to the table, physical deficiencies are more fully described on the archetypical level, which gives a full description of the trickster’s appearance and relevant deformities. It is hard to clusters as the characteristics are quite discreet and mostly the same for both cultures. The only remarkable element is the accent on specific traits: in Comedy Club – on bodily wastes, in SNL – on sexual failures. The modern context demonstrates some differences in the attitude to physical deficiencies in two discourses. In the Russian TV-show disadvantages are defined according to the origin of an individual (Dagestan, Mytischi) or to a social group (bydlo). In SNL the attention is given to a specific person (James Franco, Hillary Clinton).

§ 2.4.2. INVECTIVE OF INTELLECTUAL DEFICIENCIES Intellectual deficiencies in the archetype of trickster vividly demonstrate the

contrast between a conscious human, the cultural hero, and his animal past. Until now reason is considered the main distinctive feature of Homo Sapiens in

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comparison with the animal world. Therefore, in the invective of intellectual deficiencies absence of reason in the trickster is shown vividly.

The number of invective names with the semantics of intellectual deficiencies turns out to be approximately the same in both shows: 38 in Comedy Club and 39 in SNL.

The invective of intellectual deficiencies in Comedy Club is often connected with the topic of sports. A stereotyped image of a successful sportsman presupposes absence of intellectuality. Thus, in some parody interviews sportsmen demonstrate their illiteracy or lack of logics (for instance, they are unable to understand a simple question or to give an adequate answer):

“Дзюдо – это больше сентиментуальный вид спорта” (Самый сильный борец Абхазии Ашот), “Тренер российской сборной… по чему?”—“Потому что я занимался

спортом…” (Спортивный канал “Спорт! Спорт! Турбоспорт!).

In Russia there are several stereotyped groups, that have much in common: the army and policemen:

(a driver about a road policeman) “Меня тут какой-то дебил грузит” (Сын ГАИшника и ГАИшник),

“bydlo” (lowbrow) and “gopniki” (street gangs):

“68 матерных слов в минуту сказал быдло из Москвы журналистке из Ростова” (Новый чемпионат мира по быдлу “Свинство-2005”),

school teachers of crafts and physical education:

“Учителями труда в российских школах будут уже настоящие гуманоиды” (Прогноз погоды России на 27 октября 2115г.),

some nationalities:

“Говорят, американцы – тупые. Ни один американец не может назвать

51 штат. А ну-ка, кто-нибудь в зале может назвать все 89 субъектов РФ?” (Вопросы бывших учеников).

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