Cultural dimensions and characteristics reflected in Hungarian TED talks Cover Image

Cultural dimensions and characteristics reflected in Hungarian TED talks
Cultural dimensions and characteristics reflected in Hungarian TED talks

Research note

Author(s): Emese Pozdena
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Media studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Communication studies, Sociology, Semantics, Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Descriptive linguistics, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Theory of Communication
Published by: Krakowskie Towarzystwo Popularyzowania Wiedzy o Komunikacji Językowej Tertium
Keywords: humour taxonomy; Hungarian TED talks; cultural dimensions

Summary/Abstract: The present paper is aimed at exploring humour and cultural aspects in TED talks recorded at Hungarian independent TEDx standard events. Applying Speck’s (1991) humour taxonomy, a corpus of 30 Hungarian language talks have been classified based on Barry & Graca’s (2018) humour typology groups and further examined by descriptive statistical indicators. Results show that cultural and other national features are reflected in the talks and are appreciated by the audience. Incongruity and disparagement appeared to be a safe comic device to create laughter in highly individualist and masculine cultures; however, relief-based humour is riskier in high uncertainty avoiding countries, as the message may be interpreted differently than expected.

  • Issue Year: 8/2020
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 62-67
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: English