Exploring Conceptual Metaphors in American and Egyptian Jokes During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Comparative Study

Document Type : Original Article

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English Department, Faculty of Women, for Arts Science and Education Ain Shams University - Egypt

Abstract

 
This study examines the differences between Egyptian and American jokes about the coronavirus and quarantine time during the 2020 pandemic. It uses the Semantic Script theory and Conceptual Metaphor theory to analyze the conceptual metaphors used in both cultures. The study focuses on the types of metaphors employed, script violations, humor techniques, cultural factors affecting perception, and shared fears and challenges. Moreover, it attempts to answer the following questions; (1) What are the types of conceptual metaphors that are employed in Egyptian and American jokes? and how far do these conceptual metaphors in Egyptian and American jokes reflect cultural differences? (2) What types of script violations are commonly exploited in Egyptian and American jokes to evoke laughter? and how far are the humor techniques used by both Americans and Egyptians in their jokes different or similar? (3) How do cultural factors affect the perception and understanding of jokes in both Egyptian and American societies? (4) How far do both Egyptian and American jokes reflect the same fears and challenges of enduring a pandemic? To conduct this study a corpus of 32 Egyptian and American jokes was collected and, analysed using semantic script theory, conceptual metaphors, cultural references, and wordplay techniques. Findings show that both humor in Egyptian and American jokes arises from the violation of expectations or norms, drawing on different source domains. American humor often uses societal norms and shared experiences, while Egyptian jokes primarily focus on cultural references and social and historical issues.

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Marwa Adel Nasser

Marwa Adel Eissa Nasser is an assistant professor of linguistics at the Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. She received her PhD in Linguistics in 2014. Her main area of research focuses on Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Phonology and Morphology. She had her MA and PhD in linguistics at the Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University. She has published papers in different journals. She has attended two international conferences as a presenter; the first one is 22nd Conference of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), Syracuse University, New York and the second is CL2019 Conference, Cardiff University, UK.

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