Page 181 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

Humour across cultures: joking in the multicultural workplace 159

clusive to Ma ¯ori, but it is very acceptable and widely adopted in Ma ¯ori inter-
action.
There are a number of other features which also suggest that this is humour
in a Ma ¯ori, rather than a Pa ¯keha ¯ workplace. Most obviously, Rangi begins with
a Ma ¯ori greeting kia ora koutou, and uses the Ma ¯ori lexical item kai for food
(lines 5,11,14). He teaches the Ma ¯ori phrase ngaru iti for ‘microwave’ (line 2);
this is a common feature in this workplace where mutual learning and jointly
constructed knowledge are the bread and butter of everyday interactions. He
uses reporting devices which have been identified as typifying Ma ¯ori narratives
(Holmes 1998, 2003): e.g. the use of direct speech with no explicit quotative
signals for immediacy: e.g. by crikey I’m hungry I think I’ll shoot down the
kitchen and make myself a kai (lines 4–5). He uses subject elision (e.g. lines 6,
9), emphasizing the informality, along with informal lexical items such as the
damn thing (lines 8, 13), bugger (lines 9, 12), yackety-yack (line 10), and
spewed (line 16). Furthermore, the whole monologue is delivered with a steady
rhythmic beat, subtly resonating with rhythms familiar from Ma ¯ori speeches in
more formal contexts. These rhythms contribute to the ‘performance’ quality of
Rangi’s speech, which is further boosted by audience applause and laughter
throughout (cf. Kotthoff in this volume, on rituals and style). Overall, this is a
distinctively Ma ¯ori way of delivering his message.
One other relevant point is the implicit, indirectly expressed respect for
Yvonne, the company director, which is apparent in the reference to her finding
a disgusting mess in the microwave (lines 15–16). Ma ¯ori people are generally
very sensitive to status differences, and, unlike Pa ¯keha ¯, who typically deliber-
ately play down differences of rank, Ma ¯ori often explicitly indicate respect for
superiors. Here Rangi’s reference to Yvonne can be interpreted as a subtle rem-
inder of her position, usefully serving to strengthen the importance of his mess-
age.
Complaining about the state of the kitchen is a common speech act in many
workplaces, but it is typically accomplished by a written reminder from an ad-
ministrative assistant. Here Rangi, handed the floor to make a substantial con-
tribution to workplace business, takes a fair amount of time out to make this
strictly off-topic point. His use of humour to convey his message, his concern
for protecting individual face, his low key use of Ma ¯ori language and Ma ¯ori dis-
course features, his teaching strategies, and the implicit respect for superiors,
are all features which are consistent with Ma ¯ori ways of doing things, ways
which are very acceptable in this Ma ¯ori workplace, despite the company’s over-
all business orientation within the wider Pa ¯keha ¯ society.
Example 2 also illustrates a distinctively Ma ¯ori use of humour in some re-
spects, though there are also features which recur in the humour of other ethnic
minorities. Fundamental to understanding this example is the Ma ¯ori concept of
whakaiti, ‘humility’ or appropriate modesty: it is inappropriate to talk about