Recourse to Language Humour as an Added Incentive to Studying Contrastive Grammar and Idioms: a Modest Proposal

The present contribution submits to the reader a 'modest proposal' suggesting how language humour can be resorted to in an attempt to improve vocabulary and grammar skills of students taking comparative language courses (English vs. German vs. Romanian). Students ¿ and reader alike ¿ catch a first glimpse of linguicomedy in the second section which exposes the comicality of a prima facie 'humour-proof' sentence like I only drink whisky on the rocks. Sections Three and Four discuss briefly the theory advanced by Coseriu on linguistic norms and my own view on comic effects generated by the flouting of the aforesaid norms, with appropriate examples adduced in corroboration of the theory submitted. Section Five investigates translatability of language humour. Various linguicomedy samples are being anatomized, assigned to the particular linguistic norm type which they have been found to flout, and then provided with a "punchline-friendly" "rendition" "if any" into one "or both" of the other two languages being investigated, with concomitant recourse to domestication and ethnocentric techniques for the intertextual type. A synopsis presented after the concluding section on the two otherwise similarly performing student groups shows the grades which the 'humourful' student group got in their finals to be considerably higher than those of the 'humourless' one, thus proving my 'humorous' strategy right