Humor and Pragmatics in Politics: The Use of Humor as an FTA in the Republican Primaries

The Republican Primaries began as a strategy to introduce the party candidates to the audience. During the debates, the candidates take the opportunity to discredit their opponents while trying to position themselves as the best option for the presidency of the USA. One of the most interesting strategies to accomplish that is through the use of humor. Humor is not often seen as a harmful tool which makes it even more effective than other linguistic strategies. Using the General Theory of Verbal Humor, this study analyzes different scenarios in which the Republican candidates used humor as a Face-Threatening Act to attack their opponents. The results suggest that humor is used even in serious events such as political debates and that the strategic use of humor has the power to make someone else lose face, to soften a threat towards the face of someone else, and to save one´s own face in the process