“PRANK” AS A SPEECH GENRE OF ENTERTAINMENT DISCOURSE IN ITS CULTUROLOGICAL CONTEXT
Abstract
The article characterizes “prank” as a genre of entertainment discourse in its culturological context. In the Russian linguistic culture “prank” is originally considered to be a form of “phone trolling/ bullying”. English “prank” or a “practical joke” is understood in a broader sense and is not confined to phone jokes only. Comparing the significance of the addressee and the addresser in the genre of telephone hooliganism in the mentioned linguistic cultures, it can be concluded that the role of the “victim” is central in Russian “prank”, while in the English-speaking world, a key figure is a “prankster”, the instigator of the prank. “Hard prank”/ “heavy prank” as a kind of psychological pressure is used to create a negative mood of its victims and bring them to a state close to madness. This type is more popular in Russia. In the West, “light-prank”/ “easy prank” is aimed at creating a funny and positive mood of the recipient. In this article the author’s definition of the genre “prank” is given and all phone jokes are classified into three main categories depending on the degree of text originality: traditional/template prank phone calls, individually-modified jokes and actual “prank-calls”.
Keywords
prank,
light prank,
hard,
prank,
prankster,
entertainment discourse,
phone joke,
humor,
telephone terrorism
About the Author
S. V. Chernova
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
76, Prospect Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119454
Chernova Snezhana V. – PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer of English, Department of the English Language №1
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Review
For citations:
Chernova S.V. “PRANK” AS A SPEECH GENRE OF ENTERTAINMENT DISCOURSE IN ITS CULTUROLOGICAL CONTEXT. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2016;(8):189-200. (In Russ.)
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