The development of humor during the school years: metalinguistic reflections on referential jokes

Abstract

This study deals with the way in which school-age children and adolescents reflect on humor and, more specifically, on jokes. A joke is a short anecdote in which a determined situation appears opposed –through the establishment of an incongruity– to another alternative situation. This opposition creates a funny or humorous effect (Attardo, 2005; Attardo & Chabanne, 1992; Martin, 2007). There are many different types of jokes, but the most commonly used are referential jokes, i.e. jokes in which humor is based exclusively on the meaning of the text and that include three main elements: orientation, dialogue and punch-line. In this study we examine the way in which 42 children and adolescents (2nd, 5th and 8th Grade, 14 participants per grade) reflect on referential jokes. Results show significant differences between grades in the ability to identify jokes from non-jokes and in the participants’ capacity to justify their answers.