Owen: No testicles
Geraldine: I think you’ll find Owen that Tom Jones had rather a lot of testicles, about five I’d say
The references to sex add comedy because they are completely off topic from what the scene is actually about. Also Geraldine’s reference to sex makes the audience think that she should have seen Tom Jones naked and so this again adds humour to the scene.
The second transcript I used was from the sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S, from an episode called ‘The one with the birth mother’. The lexis in the scene was mostly focused on Monica trying to convince Erica that she was a reverend. This in itself adds humour because she over exaggerates everything she says. The first thing Monica says in the scene is ‘Amen’ and this creates humour because she is stereotyping what a reverend would say and so adding comedy. When Erica then talks about Chandler being a doctor, Monica again over exaggerates and says
Monica: Oh Good hands, healing hands,
This adds comedy because it makes shows Monica’s character up and shows the audience how she is really trying t get Erica to believe she is a reverend and Chandler is a doctor.
Also when Erica asks her whether she can look after a baby and her ‘flock’, Monica starts to seem desperate as she repeats the word ‘flock’ seven times in her next sentence, which is comic because it shows how much she is willing to lie to get the baby she really wants.
When Erica finally tells Chandler and Monica that she chooses them to be the adoptive parents, Monica replies with:
‘Monica: You are so going to heaven!’ This creates humour because she is over emphasising her pretend role as a reverend, again showing how desperate she is to have this baby.
Chandler’s lexis is used in the scene to mostly have comic effect, such as after Monica talks about the bible he replies with ‘Yeah (.) Wow’ which emphasis’s his disbelief of how Monica can act, so believably like a reverend, and so it is humours and extracts a laugh from the audience.
Pragmatics
Unlike ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, F.R.I.E.N.D.S is contextual humour. The episode, ‘The one with the birth mother’, shows Monica and Chandlers longing for a baby, however it shows this serious issue through humour.
Pragmatics are used in this transcript to show off the characters and the mistake that the agency have made. The use of Pragmatics are used through Monica to imply that she’s willing to do anything to get the baby.
‘Monica: and behold she did adopt onto them a baby (.) and it was good’, This use of Pragmatics shows the audience that Monica is willing to do anything to get the child, however this quote also puts out humour because of the words ‘and it was good’. This is also shown at the end of the scene when Monica says ‘You are so going to heaven’, which also conveys humour because she over emphasises her role as a reverend.
Irony is also used though Pragmatics to show the agency’s mistake.
Agency: We’re very proud of it.
This is ironic because the audience know that a mistake has been made and so find this humorous.
The Pragmatics used in ‘The vicar of Dibley’ episode ‘Songs of Praise’, are different from F.R.I.E.N.D.S because they only use pragmatics to create humour and not to help the story.
However the main use of pragmatics is through Geraldine’s facial expressions when the auditions are taking place. With her looking shocked, stressed, and staring in disarray creates humour because it’s, again, conveying Geraldine’s expectations towards her choir and how these are not being met.
Pragmatics are also used in some shorter sentences. ‘Ow you sexy motherf-’, adds humour because it is inappropriate to the context, because the setting of the scene is in a church. Also the sentence ‘It’s very groovy’ said by Cecil, is very ironic because his character is presented as an old ‘geeky’ man, creating humour once again.
Phonology
The Phonology that is used in both transcripts consists mainly of canned laughter from the audience. However both also use tone of voice to convey humour in the scene.
In the F.R.I.E.N.D.S transcript, Monica and Chandler use sarcasm to put across the adoption agencies mistake, and so conveys humour into the scene.
Chandler: Not for me it doesn’t
And
Chandler: You should be (.) you’re really on top of stuff
Both use satire to convey humour through Chandler’s criticism.
The use of pauses also create humour in the scene, because they are used to show Monica’s desperation for a child.
Monica: no no no my flock (.) my flock is good (.) my flock pretty much takes care of themselves by this point (.) good flock (.) flock flock flock
The use of four pauses creates humour because it conveys how hard Monica is trying to convince Erica that she is a reverend.
In the Vicar of Dibley transcript, the use of phonology and pragmatics are merged together through Geraldine.
Geraldine: Yes it was fun wasn’t it?
And
Geraldine: Yes thank you
Both said sarcastically to create humour through Geraldine’s character.
However when Geraldine says ‘yes thank you’ there is also a tone of annoyance which creates humour, because the audience can tell she is getting fed up.
The main use of phonology in this transcript is the singing. The sitcom have deliberately used bad singers to create humour in the scenes, this is because it makes the singer look stupid and so the audience will laugh at them.
Word count: 1228
