Comicality
in
Contemporary
Czech
American
Periodicals
ALENA JAKLOVÂ (Ceské Budéjovice)
The terminology used to describe humour and comicality in specialisedlitera ture isratherdiverse, and equally unresolved is thedefinition of the relationship between these twoterms itself. Sometimeshumourisconsideredto be the cen tral term, but often the terms humour, thecomic, comicality, laughter, joke, or anecdote are used interchangeably or confused with one another.
However, humour may notbe defined uniformlyeven when it is taken as the key term. Owing tothe legacy ofS. Freud, it is usually interpretedas a human defence mechanism, atool affecting human relationships, a means ofcommuni cation, a communication strategy, or as one of thetactics of human behaviour (Preisendanz 1976: 156-157). In spite of the different definitions ofhumour,
most of their authors agree that itis a complex phenomenon, whose essence can not besufficiently described by means of a few simple concepts. Humouris lin ked to mirthand seriousness joy and sadness, but particularlyto witjoke,comi cality, irony, satire, sarcasm, and cynicism.
The relationship between humour and comicality may, however, be viewed fromtheopposite perspective, i.e. thetermcomicality isconsidered asthehisto rically olderof the two,aswellas dominant and superordinate, a hyperonym of all terms used to refer to anything comical. This isthestandpoint of the most re cent Czechstudy ofthetheory ofcomicality byV. Boreckÿ(2000: 25-26). Co micalityisunderstood as a“specific property ofdiscourse manifestingaparticu lar attitude toreality”. On the psychological level, this discourse isbased on the attitudinal structure,uniting the rational, emotional and judgemental aspects of personality. Accordingto Boreckÿ, comicalityvaries on ascale of shades, with
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irony, humour, absurdity and naivetyas the mainmodes,humour being conside red the most recent comic configuration of the four.
Among the secondary aspects ofcomicality,accordingto Borecky (2000: 26), arethose determined on the basis of content or form, but essentiallyvarying on the above mentioned scale. Examples ofthe former are scatology, coprolalia, lasciviousness, and eroticism,examples of thelatter gag, joke, anecdote, paro dy, travesty, persiflage, mystification,farce, burlesque, capriccio, slapstickand comedy.
Since the middle of the 20th century, there have been three majortheoriesof comicality.
- incongruity theory (also called ambivalence, contrast, conflict theory) - superiority theory
- relaxation theory (also freedom theory).
Borecky(2000: 139) points out that while the comical may inducea feeling of superiorityover the ridiculed,as wellas that of freedomor relaxation, superiori tyor relaxation as such are not sufficientcausesofthe comic effect.Although it seems that alltheories of comicality might be reducedto a single one, namely thatof incongruity, not everyincongruity creates comicality. Instead of causes of comicalityit may therefore be moreaccurate tospeak of structural features of comicality,these are always presentincomicalityinone way or another and par ticipate in creating it. Boreckyincludes among these features thesense of comi cality (usually based on non-sense), reduplication (based on bi-polar incongruo us oppositions), the social and cultural setting, freedom, coincidence and surprise, ludism(playfulness), degradation (ofsocial norms andvalues),and the
comic world, seen as anescape fromthe world of everyday banality,and thatof seriousness.
The above characteristics suggest that comicality is a markedly subjective phenomenon, and theprocess of“deciphering“ itisinfluenced by the personality ofboththe author andthe addressee, by their sense of the comic, and their men tal state, as wellas by the social and situationalcontext.Inthe caseof the present studythere is another prominentfactor,namely the knowledge of thelanguage specific linguistic and stylistic convention in journalism.
Depending on whether the comicality springs from the events described or from the mannerof their description, itis possible to distinguishbetween situa
tional and linguisticcomicality, the former beingthe consequence or result of extralinguistic circumstances orprocesses, the lattera verbal response tothe co micality latently present in them.
Comicality in Contemporary CzechAmerican Periodicals ALENA JAKLOVA
Linguistic comicality is broughtabout by particular useof linguisticmeans of expression, i.e. phonemes,affixes,morphemes, syntacticstructures, phonetic or graphic variants; it could also result from the choice ofwordsandtheir accumu lation, as well as from the tension between theirpotential ambiguity and their unambiguousmeanings in agivencontext. Acomic effect may alsobe produced by a special use of signs (semiological properties) of the language: the author may imitateexisting words by inventing new complex signs (actually pseudo signs), which are, however, devoid of meaning. Sus(1963: 20) applies theterm asemantic,or more exactly, cryptosemantic comicality to such cases (seesome of thepoemsby Ch. Morgenstern). Comicality may be achieved by breaking the laws of the logical principles oflanguage, which link separate signsinto meanin gful units. Comicality, oftenmanifested as senselessness, is the result ofmecha nicaluse of language, whenaccidental,surprising or evenabsurd connection of premises occurs, although the premises may be perfectly meaningful on their own. Breaking the logical and semantic structure of clausesand sentences pro duces comical semantics of syntax.
This study attempts an analysis of comicality, its types, means,functionsand usesin contemporary Czech American journalism, i.e. in written texts pu blished in periodical press.The results are then compared with the comicalityfo und in contemporary Czech journalism (see Jaklova 2000: 167-179).
The United States isnow the home ofprobably the largest group of Czech im migrants. The first ofthemarrived inthecountry as earlyasthe first halfof the
17th century, in the waveof emigration from Czechlands brought about by reli giousreasons (Kucera 1990: 13). However, Czech had been scarcely used in communication until the influxofmore substantial numbers of immigrantsstar ted in the late 1840s, inthe so-called classical stage of Czech immigration into the USA (Kucera 1966: 117).
The first newspaper written in C z ec h and called Slowan Amerikanskywas startedon 1 January 1860 in Racine (Wisconsin), andthe same month saw the first issue of Narodni Noviny in St. Louis. As the immigrants grew in number and their opinions became more distinctly divided, new Czech American ne wspapers and magazines appeared, appealing to supporters of separate move ments or opinions.Katolickenoviny,the first Catholic paper, was started in 1867 and soon afterwards the existing paperNarodni Novinywas proclaimedto be social-democratic. The number of Czech periodicals grew steeply, although some of them were short-livecL In 1860-1911 America produced 326 Czech American periodicals representinga variety ofmovements religiousorpolitical orientations ranging from Catholicism and Protestantism to atheism and diffe
Stylistyka X
rentforms of socialism,republicanism, democratism, and Americanism (Capek 1911: 185).
The importance and number ofCzech American periodicals peaked in the 1920s, with 123Czech and Slovakperiodicals published regularly(Duben 1962: 6). Since that time their number hasbeen falling steadily, and nowthere are be tween five and ten periodicals in the USA (depending on the criteria applied) written in Czech or Slovak (Kucera 1990: 38).
The reasonsforCzech press exsistence in the USA have always been strictly pragmatic. The first newspapers and magazines in Czech in the 1860s, along with the all-American Czech organisations, represented the principal link for Czech immigrants in America. They reportedon the life of CzechAmericans, influenced them interms ofculture and languageandamalgamatedthem as a di stinct ethnic group(Kucera 1990: 38-39).Even today, Czech newspapers inthe USAfocus primarily oneventsin the CzechRepublic, their primary topicbeing allegiance to everything Czech in the broadest sense oftheword. The feeling of unity with the formerhomeis kept alive by texts praising theglorious Czech hi story, outstanding Czech celebrities, the beauty of Czech landscape, and the achievements of Czech music. However, by farthe largest number of texts in Czech American periodicals isdevotedtocurrent changes in Czechsocial, poli tical and economic life.
The focus of the presentanalysis were selected issues of the following perio dicals (referred to by means of abbreviations): Americke Listy (AL),
Ceskoslovenske noviny (CN), Nedelni Hlasatel (NH), HLAS NARODA (HN), POSEL (P) and Glorious Hope/Slavna nadeje (SN).
Americke listy is an independent Czech and Slovak fortnightly. Founded in 1874 andoriginally called New Yorkske Listy, itwaspublished underthe name Ceskoslovensky Tydenikfrom 1990 to 1996. Americke listy is printed in New York under the editor-in-chief Petr Bisek.
The frontpage header of Ceskoslovenskenovinydescribes it as an indepen dent Czechoslovak bi-weekly. It is published in Brooklyn, New York, underedi- tor-in-chief Jan Krondl.
Nedelni Hlasatel, founded in 1891, is published in Woodridge, Illinois. Besi des Nedelni Hlasatel, there is also DenniHlasatel.
HLAS NARODA withtheEnglish subheading VOICE OF THE NATION is a fortnightlypublished every other Saturdayby “Velehrad“, theCzech American cultural centre in Chicago.
POSEL described as the “Central Organ ofCzech Catholic Unity“ is a bi monthly published in Cleveland, Ohio.
Comicality in Contemporary CzechAmerican Periodicals
ALENA JAKL0VA
Glorious Hope/Slavna nadeje is a bi-monthlypublished in Oakville, Canada byCzechoslovak Baptists livingin the USA and Canada. The editor-in-chief is Natasha Legier.
The analysisof comicality in the periodicalslistedabove paidparticular atten tion to the frequency of situationaland linguistic comicalityinseparate sections ofthe newspapers and in different genres of journalism, following at the same time the most frequent means of comicality in Czech American press.
Compared with linguistic comicality, situational comicality is ex tremely rare in Czech American journalism, inspite ofthefact that it is,pragma tically speaking, the more powerfulofthe two. WhileCzech periodicals present situationalcomicalityin two forms -either short news items describing a variety of comic,usually paradoxical events,orlonger, more detailed and often pleona stic reports oncomic events with a sensational twist- situational comicality in e.g. Nedelni Hlasatel isof acompletely different kind. CzechAmericans proba blyput into this category someadvertisements reproduced from Czech papers. These advertisements are printed in a separate column with a bold headline
“Inzerdtyz ceskych novin “ (Advertisements from Czech Papers), and asubhea ding “Trochu humoru neuskodi“ (A little humour can do no harm). The follo wing are examples of such advertisements:
38letymladsiho vzhledu, hledapritele z Mostecka. Stay a vek nerozhoduje. Zn.: “Diskretnost nutna“.
Zenaty 45/180 hleda neznou, temperamentni, stihlou zenu khezkym chvilkamve dvou. Zn.: “Uroven a 100 % diskretnost".
(NH, 20. 8. 2000, p. 12)
The examplesabove illustrate the subjective nature of comicality,not only in terms ofthe personality oftherecipient, but also in terms of the social context and its values. Advertisements ofthis kind, although appearingonly in acertain range of periodicals, are common in theCzech Republic andare definitely devo id of any type of comicality.
Onthe other hand, linguistic comicality isfrequent in all the Czech American periodicalssurveyed, and its meansare rather varied.Amongthe most striking,andprobablythe most effective in terms of the comiceffect, are lexical means. Their range is extremely wide and therefore it is possible to comment only on the most frequent and most typical of them.
I. In all the Czech American periodicals surveyed, the mostfrequent lexical meansof comicality is irony. While referring to Bergson, Borecky(2000: 83) says about irony that “it proceeds from the worse to the better, fromevil to good, states what there might be, and pretends that it really is so“. As irony doesnot
Stylistyka X
explicitly name whatit actually refersto, it has to be understoodas acode which has to bedeciphered by the reader. And this presents an obstacle in employing irony, which tends to be spoken and dialogical, in written journalism.
Ironyuses avariety oftechniques,the semantically most transparentonebe ing the statement of the opposite:
Nepochybuji, źe sliby, kteredal Vaclav Havel Marence Korbelove pri navsteve ĆR dodrzi. Do poslednihopuntiku. Także - ke spokojenosti mocnych v Bilem dome i “drobnych“ americkych podnikatelu, nedoda CR technikupro jadernou elektrarnu v Busehru. Jiste budę spokojenі pracujicilid v USA.Narozdil od Milevska, kde bude muset ZVVZ propoustet. Ale to je prece
v zajmuglobalizace i kdyzji nakonec doda nekdo chytfejsi. Miru zdar!1 (NH,28. 5.2000, p. 4)
1 All the quotations from Czech American newspaperspreservethe original spelling and punctuation,
includingall its peculiarities,inconsistencies, variations,as well aserrors.
Oto, abyćeskakoruna, ćeskapracenaśichUdianaśenarodnibohatstvi byly pro cizince levne se tedy [vlada- comment by A. J.] starala znamenite. (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 12)
Inejvyznamnejsi vedectisocialiste sevroli proroku podobne vyznamenali.(AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
Tojepokrok, postaru se neda zit, to by takjesteschazelo, aby sev prąci lidem Ubiło a litovali toho, ze uź musi na konci sichty domu. (NH, 25. 6. 2000, p. 8)
Ironic use of metaphors and other periphrastic forms is semantically more ambiguous:
Vidimeto dnes a denne, kam to doślo s tolikprosazovanou "pravicovosti“ODS: Klaus aZe man si padli do naruci Iziprorokove. Je tofraskapripravena podle scenareKGB aStB. Onise stali jen herci a myjim nesmime delat krovi. (NH, 25. 6. 2000, p. 3)
Another relatively frequentmeans of ironic assessment in Czech American newspapers is hyperbole, which, for emphaticand particularly comic reasons, exaggerates a certain feature or situation.
Emigrace vskutku zvenci vypada jako legrace. Peceni holuby nejen ze jsou pry kdykoli k dosazeni, ale clovek nemusi ani natahnou гики aonisamipriletnou. Nekteri majiv zadech
zapichnuty niiź a vidlicku, jini pfistanou primo v ustech. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 3)
JosefZieleniec pryzahorelvelkou laskouke krajamimzijicim v USAa Kanadę a stovkyjich os-lovil dopisem, v nemz je pozddal ofinancni pomoc pri nastavajicich volbach. (ĆN, 13. 10. 2000, p. 3)
Other means ofconveyingirony are euphemisms, litotes, contrastive, and
Comicality in Contemporary CzechAmerican Periodicals
ALENA JAKLOVA
V nasledujicich letech po prevratu v race1989 prestaly samet’ackym zbohatlikumstaćit byty, kterych si levne uzivali za komunistickeho reżimu. (NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 13)
Ale Clintonovo a Blairovo bombardovani sio skutećne do nekolika tisicuzabitych nevinnych a to jenom proto, ie Jugoslavie se nechtela podrobił globalistickym valecnikum v cele s bubenikem MadelenkouAlbrightovou-Koerbelovou! (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 5)
Sametova priseraovladlacesky naroda vnucuje muitlohu rasisty vescenari Petra Uhla. (NH, 2. 4. 2000, p. 2)
Toconvey irony, oftentranscending into sarcasm orscorn, the texts surveyed use derogatives, and also diminutives:
Havel byl jednim z prvnich,ktery komunisty obhajoval adavalvinucelemu obcanstvu za tyto krute zlociny, ktere byly spachane na nekolikatisicich politickych vezhu, zatim co on sevalel
v pohodlne posteli a kouril si svoje cigaretky. (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 5)
A mysli si pan Dyer, że Gorbacov je ci bylnevinnym detatkem? (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 5) Another possible means of expressing irony isparadox, i.e. the use of surpri sing, seemingly contradictory statements which areincontrast with what is nor mally thought of as right or correct:
An article headline: Belohradskehosilenstvi rozumu. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, supplement,p. A)
Ale ani tim tonekonci. Zatimco prumerny Zapadoevropan nebo American potrebuje vsechny ty pracovni dny atydny,abyuzivil sebea svourodinu, Cech svoupolovicni pracovni dobou uzivi
nejensebe a svourodinu, ale i stovky pilnychtunelaru, kteri ho odirajio uspory adane, kdyź vesele vylupuji banky a velkopodniky, ktere vlada z Cechovych dani zachrafiuje. S jistym vedomim,źebohatyCech na tonejenrńa, ale radostne i da. Zesicebudę remcatjako vzdy, alei to jenom aby se nereklo. (NH, 3.9. 2000, p. 3)
The Czech American periodicals describedin this study, particularly Nedelni Hlasatel, often manifest the highest degree of irony, i.e. sarcasm. On the other hand, Czech periodicals use sarcasm much lessoften because of its sharplypoin ted meaning. While ironymaystill beconsidered friendlyor good-natured,sar casm conveys unmitigated hatred or cynicism:
Prodat majetek za ućetni, tedy desetinovou cenu dokaze snad jen vesnicky buran nebo podplaceny statni urednikFNM. A commentaryon thesale of the breweries Plzeńsky Prazdroj
and Radegast to the South-African brewery SAB. (NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 14)
Havel by se nikdy pod podminkou republikanske ustavy prezidentem nestal,jelikoź by mel protivniky,kteri byho v debatachusadili tam,kampatri, tj. bythlidaćem Lucerny! (NH,23. 1.
2000, p. 5)
Lupićskykapitalismus - takto privatizovaneRusko nemuźe fungovat jako normalni stat. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
Stylistyka X
II. Comicality in journalism often uses theeffect ofbreakingthe norms that readers have implicitly acquired by reading other journalistic texts. The most common example of this strategyisthe use of lexical unitsthat contrast with the neutral standard language usualin these kinds of texts, and therefore break the established conventions. The most frequent means ofthis kind arestylistically markednaming units, particularlyexpressionsbelongingto the registerofcollo quial Czech, (often Germanisms by origin):
Nuze, tento milaceknarodav prvni krizovesituaci odeselod valu.(NH, 19.3. 2000, p.1)
Hollywoodsky mogul oznacil vynalez televize jako neperspektivni fiasko - Ude precenebudou doma cucet namalou bednu. (AL,5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
A potompo 17. listopadu1989prevlekli rychle sako a hajdy na Hrad. (NH, 25. 6.2000, p. 11) To fulfil the same function, Czechperiodicals alsouse, besidesexpressions of colloquial Czech, slang expressions. Thesehavenotbeenfound in theCzech American press, however, there are other stylistically marked expressions con veying comicality, namely:
- literary expressions:
Vypuklybakchanalie navazovani kontaktu a vymeny informaci. (NH,25. 6. 2000, p. 4)
- neologisms:
Tito tzv. umelci vytvorili jakysi hybrid umelce vsehoschopneho. (NH, 25. 6. 2000, p. 10)
Inthe context ofthe newspaper,the role of contrastive lexical units is alsoac quired by words expressing negative affection and vulgarisms:
Rakusane maji noveho konicka. O vikendech traktory a dalsimi vozidly zatarasi cesko-rakouske prechodya vyvesiplakaty proti temellnske elektrarne.Natoovsem ceska vlada zvysoka kasle. (CN, 13. 10. 2000, p. 3)
Predchozl iniciativa s prostoduchym nazvem Dekujeme, odejdete, vysla naprazdno. Otrli sametovikorytari nerekli ani nenizac a vyzve k odchodu se zasmdli. (NH, 20. 8.2000,p. 1)
Contrastand surprise are often achievedby connecting units of opposite or contradictory meaning, sometimes creating the effect ofabsurd paradox:
Totoje jednim ze skutecnych nedostatku ceske legislativy, o kterem se “nahlas mlci".(NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 13)
Ve srovnanitechto dvou osobnosti cni skrehotavy starec Hacha nadfilozofujicimpivarem - bar dem Havlemjako katedrala nad hospodou u Fleku. (NH, 19. 3. 2000, p. 5)
Parlamenttrpi chorobouplizive bolsevizace. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 2)
When theauthors are aware ofbreaking the norms of journalistic language by using inappropriate naming units, they indicate this by putting them in quota
Comicality in Contemporary Czech American Periodicals
ALENA JAKLOVA
tion marks. Wordsthatarenon-standard, strongly emphatic, orexpressing ne gative assessmentor irony tend tobe marked in this way, even if they create a comic effect in the given context. By formally indicating the inappropriateness of suchunitsauthors distancethemselves from the resulting communicativeef fect:
Prezident Clinton a“druhyviceprezident“ Hillary nds zadaji,...(NH, 12. 9. 1999,p. 7)
Pokudse tyce Pavla Rychetskeho, ten uz se nekolikrate vyznamenal jako “klasicky vladni osel“, kterydela ramus, aniz by necemu rozumel. (NH, 31. 10. 1999, p. 8)
Trochu temAnglicanum zdvidim. Oni maji sveho “sefika“pod drobnohledem uz od detstvi. William je v budoucnu nemiize nicimprekvapit. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 4)
To jenom nekolik horkych hlavsedlo na lep americkeprovokaci. Alid cesky to ovsem “sezral“.
(NH, 2. 4. 2000, p. 2)
III. Onthe lexical levelthe periodicals surveyedcontain someother frequent means of linguistic comicality, namely indirect naming. Theseare usually pre sent in the form of:
- metaphor:
Pan generalni reditel VydavatelstviV. Kostal pred televiznimi kamerami jaksepatripredvedl svuj pavi ocas, dokonce se zlatyma ocima. (NH, 21. 11. 1999, p. 15 )
Pokud otdzky rest Snehurkaa sedm trpasliku vedenych Smudlou, jdespiseo narodni tragedii.
(NH, 28. 5. 2000, p. 3)
Marianv obou pripadech dostal potupny politicky kopanec. (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 6)
- metonymy:
Domaci vlastenci pakk Impulsu 99 zaujali jednoznacne a strucne stanovisko: “havlarna".
(NH, 21. 11. 1999, p. 16)
Ruskoje uz jine. Nema duvod delat si o kapitalismu iluze, ale do totalitni klece jiz neni nastrkatelne. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
Za svehopodrizeneho si ihned vybral starou strukturu -vysokehofunkcionareKSC Jiriho Frkala. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 2)
Indirect namingcreates acomic effectwhentaken literally, orwhen therela tionship betweentheir denotationand connotation is surprising, unexpected or amusing. When simileis employed, the comicality usually stems from oversta tement, unexpectedness or illogicality:
Tri kadibudky (...), tri vedlesebe, vjednomsiku, semknute jako rolnicia delnici apracujiciin- teligence. (NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 5)
Stylistyka X
Repríza studené válkyje stejné malorealistickájako by byla obnova kolonialismu, otroctví ci krizáckych vyprav osvobodit Jeruzalém. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
Politiky i domácím (vétsinou némeckym) tiskemjako MFDatd. bylprodejprivítán stejné dojemné jako predchozí pitomosti zapocaté vládou OF a jeho politickymi pohrobky.
(NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 14)
Otakar Motejl (...) se rozzlobil na poslance, kterí se méli k jím navrzené sérii zákonü reformující soudnictvíasi jako pafezk tanci. (CN, 13. 10. 2000, p. 2)
IV. Averycommonsource ofcomicality in journalism is intertextuality. In
order to appreciate the comiceffect,readers have to be well-versed in arangeof different types of texts or familiar with communicative situations related towhat is communicatedorwhat is (often indirectly)referred to. The question whether thereaders are able to interpret theinformationasa source of comicality inevita bly arises. The most common kind of intertextualityis allusion (a hint- quota tion of a word, phrase or a catchword):
Nastéstíjsemjim na zacátku jejichkariéry “podvodnika“ necinkalklicema. An allusion to the first demonstrations after 17 November 1989, where people were jingling their keys to send amessage to the Communist Party sayingthat “the game was over“. (NH, 2. 4. 2000, p. 4)
Cinkatelé klícúpredpokládaliúsvitprílisnáhlych sametovych zázrakii. (AL, 19.10. 2000, p. 9)
Lee ne cely národpropadl blbé náladé. Anallusion to a statement fromVaclavHavel‘sspee ches, assessing the social climate in the Czech Republic. (NH, 20. 8. 2000, p. 4)
Nezistnycha pro socialismus zanícenych Ratonilmoc nebylo. An allusion to the Minister of Fo reign Affairs J. Kavana, who wasrecorded in the Secret Policefiles under the nickname of Kato. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 7)
Links between texts may also be established by meansofquotations.In jour nalism they usually represent a parenthetic device, making the message more immediate, urgent orlively (in the contextof the present studyprimarily by brin ging in comicality), and they aretherefore considered asmeans of stylisticacti vation (Cechová, Chloupek, Krcmová, Mináfová 1997: 188):
PremierMilos Zeman prohlásilve Strasburku, ze “privatizace, které délaly minulé vlády,neby- ly prílis ukázkové, a kdyz, tak ukázaly, jak se nemají délat". (NH, 25. 6. 2000, p. 4) Intertextualitymay also be manifested as (comic) paraphrase imitatingthe intonation, text, or mentalpatterns of otherspeakers, as well as commonlysha red values, creating thus a comic effect:
Zkrátka a dobre stát dostává pouze dan ze zisku, coz je obrovsky, ale obrovsky rozdil soudruhu profesare. A paraphrase of Prof. Vaclav Klaus' typical style. (NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 14)
Comicality in Contemporary CzechAmerican Periodicals
ALENA JAKLOVA
Novinari mohouobjevitkdeco, kritizovatkdekoho, alejak to skonci?Postekavanimprasivych ratlikii na vznesenou karavanu. (NH, 20. 8. 2000, p. 7)
Another way of creating a comic effect is by modifying existing phraseology
and idioms, needlessto say onlythose that are sufficiently well-known for the reader to appreciate the altered structure and the resulting comicality:
Podobneje tomui u ostatnichprednichpolitiku: rybase vzdykaziod hlavy. (NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 4)
Tyzdruh uvazovaniprispel svoudavkou i doceskehomlyna tvrzenim,ze sametovaevoluce v li-stopadu 1989 byl dohodnuty,kagebaky a estebdky inscenovanypodvod. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
“Jaky pan, taky kram!“Vinen vsimneporadkem a nedostatkem jsitedy predevsim Ty, preziden-te zapadniho zbytku byvale Ceskoslovenske republiky! (NH, 23. 1. 2000, p. 2)
Kdyz slo statnimu molochu z tlusteho do tenkych, prerozdelilo se. (NH, 20. 8. 2000, p. 7)
V. Comicality may be brought about by the useof bonsmots, aphorisms and
puns. Bonsmots, aswell as aphorisms are original, witty and often ironic reflec tionsbasedoncomparison, contrast, or paradox. Punsin the narrow sense of the wordare instances of comical use ofhomonymy, homophony or polysemy, or even false etymology - the so-called play onwords. Puns inthe broad sense are also texts using paronomasia (i.e. wordsthat are oftenconfused because offor mal similarity but which are notinterchangeable),acomic choice ofphonemes or letters, choice of words depending onthenumber of theirsyllables, clustering of words that are difficult to pronounce, or a comic graphic representation or spelling:
Lide jeste asinevi, jaky je rozdilmezi politickym zlodejskyma prolhanym “smejdem “ a terori-stou. Zadny! Jeden vaszabijipomalu, druhy rychle. (NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 2)
Valka nebude, ale nastane velky bojo mir. (NH, 3. 9. 2000, p. 4)
Puvabem kazdekonspirace jejeji nezridka obtizna vyvratitelnost.Protitakovemu plusuje tu ovsem minus jeji nedokazatelnosti. (AL, 5. 10. 2000, p. 8)
Potizs intelektualy ovsem je,ze maji nebezpecnysklon povazovat idealy za dulezitejsi nez Udi.
(AL, 5. 10. 2000, priloha, p. A)
Taksepolitika, ktera mapecovat o obecneblaho,zvrhlavpolitikareni. (NH, 2. 4. 2000, p. 1)
Punsin journalismare often basedon skilfuluse of morphemes, particularly
affixes, producing words similar in form but different in meaning. Another stra tegy is unusual use of different suffixes to achieve a comic effect.
Vevsech emigrantskychcasopisech se objevily rozcilene clanky popirajicinepopiratelne. (NH, 4. 12. 1999, p. 5)
Stylistyka X
Potom prislakrize:Dvapoliticisedomluvili, ze se nedomluvi, jinymi slovy,spikli se. (NH,19.
3. 2000, p. 5)
Kremlinologove se spletli v odhadech Gorbacova. (AL, 5. 10.2000, p. 8)
Similar formal structures of compounds may also form the basis ofa pun:
Mototechna aSlibotechnaUV KSCpatrily k dommantnimstrukturam byvaleCSSR.(NH, 28. 5. 2000, p. 4)
VI. Other prominent sources oflinguisticcomicality in Czech, andeven more so in Czech Americannewspapers, are nicknames, less often also comically marked surnames, first names and place names:
For example,in Nedelni Hlasatel President Havel is nicknamedin the followingways:kulisdk z Hradecku;hradni brepta; nastrcena loutka (NH, 20. 8. 2000, p. 1);nas hradni dramatik;Jeho velicenstvo (NH,20. 8.2000, p. 4);prezident podsivka (NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 5);Vase vysost (NH,
12. 9. 1999, p. 6); taticekaochrance komunistu (NH, 31. 10. 1999, p.7); hradni lidr(NH, 21.
11. 1999, p. ); novopeceny miliardar (NH, 23. 1.2000, p. 1); prezident NICITEL (NH, 19. 3.
2000, p. 10).
President W. Clinton'snicknames:profesiondlniIhar (NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 7); William Jeffer son Clinton, guverner, Ihar a podvodnik z chudehoArkansasu (NH, 12. 9. 1999, p. 7). Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies VaclavKlaus isnicknamedMakovec Klaus(NH, 31. 10. 1999, p. 7); makovectydne (NH, 31.10. 1999,p. 9);hlavamakovce (NH, 23. 1.2000, p. 14).
A common componentofalmostall Czech periodicals isconcentratedlingu istic comicality, i.e. asection of thenewspaperdevotedexclusivelyto comicali ty. This typically features e.g. funny statements by Czech politicians,sometimes with aneditorial commentary, or variousjokes.These sectionwere almost non- -existent in Czech American periodicals, with the exception of Inzeraty z ceskych novin, withthe subheadingTrochu humoru neuskodi, printedirregularly in Nedelni Hlasatel (see above). Americke listy occasionally feature a section called Vtipy tydne. Similar situationcan be found in the field of deliberatelymis leading texts (Junkova 2000). Correctly interpreted, theyhave a strong comic appeal. AmongtheCzech papers they are most commonly found in Mladafron-ta DNES, and irregularly also in Lidove noviny.
Another difference between Czech American and Czech periodicals can be found in cartoons. A variety of humorous and satirical drawings, sometimes accompanying verbal jokes oranecdotes, which can beclassified as caricature in the broad sense (Pytlik 1988:7), are an inseparable partofall Czechnewspa pers. Theycan be inthe form ofillustrated jokesand anecdotes, original picto rial moralisms,paradoxes,and aphorisms, usually built uponthe principle ofhy perbole. This kind of comicality is extremely rare in Czech American
Comicality in Contemporary CzechAmerican Periodicals
ALENA JAKLOVA
periodicals. Original cartoonsby HonzaHonner, usuallyironic or satirical,ap pear onlyinNedelni Hlasatel. They are complemented by textand usually refer toCzech political life. A variety of cartoons including text may also be encoun teredinAmericke listy.Theseare, however, reprints from Czech newspapers.
Comicality is often present in Czech periodicals inadvertisements2. Nosuch advertisements have been discovered in the Czech American papersunder the present study.
As the above analysis amply proves, comicality, particularlyin its linguistic form,isaprominent component of thetexts inCzech American periodicals. Lin guisticmeans of comicality are most frequently used by the editors of thewe eklyNedelni Hlasatel, while papers ofreligious orientation employ them least
(POSEL, HLAS NARODA, Glorious Hope/Slavna nadeje). As far as separate genres within Czech Americannewspapersareconcerned, linguistic comicality features mostprominently in analytical and fiction writing, namely in commen taries, comments,columns, andreports,i.e. ingenres that in additionto presen tingnews and fact alsoreveal the author’s point of view,usually as a chainofre flections. These genres are mostly concerned with Czech political and social events. Strictlynews-oriented genres exhibit a significantly lowerfrequencyof linguistic comicality in Czech American papers.
The functions of comicality in journalism are manifold. Owing to comicality the textbecomes more convincing, interesting and attractive. It arouses interest inthe topic,makes facts easierto remember and the emotional charge of the text easierto understand, and it alsohelps thereader to concentratefora longer pe riod of time. Correspondingly, comicality servesboth oftheprincipal functions of present-day journalism: theinformative function and the persuasive function. Additionally,in Czech periodicals it has another important function, namely that of creating amusement.Comical textbecome more attractive and exert positive influence on the reader, which is in line with the intentions and business interests of the publisher. However, the main function of comicalitydiffersin Czech and inCzech American newspapers: the latter, bypresenting events in the former ho meland in the light ofirony and spiced with punch lines, manifest theircritical attitude and disagreement, and make readers reflect on them. Comicality in Czech American newspapers is therefore used primarilyto criticise someof the aspect of current social life in the Czech Republic.
2 A moredetailed treatment ofadvertisement in Czech andits languagemeanscan be found in studies
Stylistyka X
Bibliography
Boreckÿ V., 2000, Teorie komiky, Hynek Publishing House, Praha. Capek T., 1911, Padesät let ceského tisku v Americe, New York.
Duben V. N., 1926, Czech and Slovak Periodical Press Outside Czechoslovakia, Washing ton.
CechovâM.,Chloupek J.,KrcmovâM.,MinârovâE., 1997,Stylistika soucasné ćeśtiny, ISV, Praha.
Cmejrkovâ S., 1997, Jazykreklamy. - Danes F., Ceskÿjazyk naprelomu tisicileti, Academia, Praha, pp. 133-145.
Jaklovâ A., 1997, Kjazykové komice v lexikâlni roviné umëleckého textu, "Stylistyka" VI, pp. 443-455.
Jaklovâ A., 2000, Humor v ceské zurnalistice, Stylistyka, IX, pp. 167-179.
Junkovâ B., 2000, Humor vpublicistickÿch textech “Mladé fronty Dnes“. - Świat humo- ru.iy&s. Gajda S., Brzozowska D.), Opole, pp. 291-296.
Kućera K., 1990, Ceskÿ jazyk v USA, Praha.
Kućera K., 1996, Americkäćestina:pohlednajedenpripadśtćpenijazykového vÿvoje.- Ja zyk a jeho uziväni. I. Nebeskâ, A. Macurovâ (eds.), Praha, pp. 112-118.
Preisendanz W., 1976, Zum Vorrang des Komischen bei der Darstellungvon Geschichtser fahrung in deutschen Romanen unserer Zeit. - Das Komische (Preisendanz W.,
Warning R, eds.) Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München. Pytlik R., 1988, Ceskÿ kreslenÿ humor XX. stoleti, Odeon, Praha.
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Komika
v
soućasnych
ćechoamerickych
periodicich
Pfispëvek se zabÿvâ terminologii tykajici se humoru a komiky a vymezenim vzâjemného vztahu tëchto dvou pojmû. Dâle pojednâvâ o komice, jejich typech, prostfedcich, funkcich i aspektech jejiho uzivâni v soucasné ëechoamerické zurnalistice. Pozomost je pritom vënovâna situacni komice, jazykové komice a kreslenému humoru. Okrajovë je zminëna i komika v reklamnich textech. Vÿsledky zjistëné analÿzou sesti soucasnÿch cechoamerickych periodik jsou nâslednë konfrontovâny s podobou a funkci komiky uzivané v souëasné zurnalistice ëeské.
