Page 182 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

160 Meredith Marra and Janet Holmes

one’s own achievements, and self-praise is quite unacceptable. It is up to others
to provide praise and appreciation (Metge 1995: 160). Thus any reference to ac-
tivities which reflect well on an individual need to be handled with skill; humour
provides one acceptable strategy for managing this problem in the workplace.

(2) Context: monthly staff meeting of Ma ¯ori organization. Yvonne is the CEO.
1. Yvo: I was with the um I felt the presentation wasn’t that good
2. because my briefing was about a two second phone [laughs]: call:
3. and so I (didn’t) know who was going to be at the conference
4. and ( ) what’s it about I had no programme beforehand
5. so I was a bit um ( / )
6. She: /is this the one you had yesterday
7. Yvo: yeah
8. She: I loved it
9. Yvo: /oh did you
10. /[general laughter]
11. She: I actually came home raving
12. Yvo: oh that’s only because I had a photo of you
13. Ran: /smoking
14. /[general laughter]

Yvonne begins by reporting on a conference presentation she has given claim-
ing, modestly and in a culturally appropriate way, that her contribution was not
good due to lack of preparation (lines 1–5). Again, appropriately, another staff
member, Sherie, responds by praising Yvonne’s performance I loved it (line 8),
and I (actually) came home raving (line 11). Yvonne first responds with appar-
ent surprise to this praise oh did you (line 9), eliciting laughter from her col-
leagues. She then provides a more pro-active response maintaining the general
laughter by teasing Sherie that it was the inclusion of a photo of Sherie in her
presentation which influenced her positive assessment of it (line 12). Rangi’s
contribution smoking (line 13) maintains the tease and supports Yvonne by
pointing out that Sherie was engaging in socially unacceptable behaviour in the
photograph (cf. Hay 1996).
In close-knit groups, teasing is an effective strategy for maintaining and
constructing group solidarity (e.g. Hay 1995). Members of this workteam enjoy
working together and this kind of teasing and supportive humour is frequent in
their interactions. However, the way humour is used in this organization tends to
be consistent with Ma ¯ori cultural norms despite the Pa ¯keha ¯ working environ-
ment and industry. Thus in example 2, Yvonne uses teasing humour to deflect at-
tention from herself and her achievements, while Rangi supports her with a
comment that contributes to the group sense of cohesion and reflects team
members’ familiarity with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.