Laughter: Its Basic Nature and Its Background of Equivocal Impression

Abstract

When we look at laughters uttered in conversation, we can easily realize that the traditional incongruity theory has not a general validity. Moreover, laughter is often uttered in a situation where there is no playful tone. Analyzing not only speakers’ but also recipients’ laughter, I will point out that any laugher laughs when he is not what he is presenting or has presented as self x and is leaking a minimum hint for the others to negatively qualify his ongoing self in such a manner, i.e. he is non (x). Therefore I would define laughter as a collaborative metacommunication to avoid mutual misunderstandg about the participation stance of self. Nevertheless the message $\textless$now he is not x$\textgreater$ does not specify $\textless$what he is now$\textgreater$. The equivocality of laughter derives from the basic nature of its message, the surrounding context and the availability of relevant informations.