A Sociopragmatic Study of Witticism in Disney Films

چکیده

This study deals with witticism in Disney films from a sociopragmatic viewpoint. It explores the intricate role of witticism in the context of the beloved extracts of Disney films. Witticism is mainly selected because it has not been given a close analysis by researchers from a sociopragmatic perspective. This study, hence, is intended to achieve the following aims: pinpointing the pragmatic strategies used to reflect witticism in Disney films; and showing how witticism in Disney films is influenced by social factors that shape the humor and storytelling in these films. In line with its aims, this study hypothesizes that: characters in Disney films use a variety of pragmatic strategies to reflect witticism including representative, directive, commissive, expressive, and declarative speech acts in addition to other strategies like exaggeration, understatement, contrast, sarcasm, self-deprecation, self-deception, hyperbole, repetition, irony, and wordplay; witticism in Disney films is influenced by social factors as it reflects the cultural values and norms of the time and place in which witty utterances are made. To achieve its aims, this study follows certain steps: it briefly reviews the relevant literature about witticism; develops a model of witticism to analyze the data; analyses ten extracts qualitatively using the model developed in this study for this purpose; and discusses the findings to arrive at conclusions. The study ends up with many conclusions, the most central of which is that the strategic use of witticism through humour and clever remarks is to convey meaning, enhance storytelling, and reflect social and cultural norms.