COMMUNICATIVE ERRORS AS INCIDENTAL HUMOUR IN SELECTED STATEMENTS OF PUBLIC SPEAKERS

This paper explored some communicative errors in the statements of former Nigeria First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan (2010-2015). The paper examined specific communicative errors that resulted in incidental humour. The study was based on a corpus of six statements on web-sites presenting humorous bits of information. Each expression was identified and contextualized using the framework of error analysis and incongruity theory of humour. The main results of the study were that the selected expression deviated from the proficient speaker’s usage of lexemes, tenses and concord of subject and verb. These deviation provoked dissonance or discrepancies which triggered accidental humour that helped to douse the initial tension associated with kidnap of the secondary school girls in Chibok, Nigeria. It concluded that humour is the trojan horse of communicative errors