Chimuanya, Lily and Ajiboye, Esther (2016) Socio-Semiotics of Humour in Ebola Awareness Discourse on Facebook. In: Analyzing Language and Humor in Online Communication. Advances in Linguistics and Communication Studies (ALCS) Book Series . IGI-GLOBAL, Hershey PA, USA, pp. 252-273. ISBN ISBN 9781522503385 (hardcover); ISBN 9781522503392 (ebook)
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Abstract
Humour has often functioned as a tool for the relief of depression, anxiety and stress. People have continually turned to humour, in serious life threatening situations in order to find relief. Facebook users eagerly expressed their thoughts and opinions on the Ebola epidemic that raged across some parts of West Africa in 2014 through humorous graphics, texts and memes posted online. An awareness of the peculiar patterns and use of such humour creating strategies is crucial to the understanding and interpretation of socio-semiotic realities of such online interactions. This study identifies and analyses specific semiotic patterns in Ebola-related graphic posts in Nigerian online social discourse, particularly on Facebook, and argues, that such posts are not merely a bunch of humour. Instead, they are informal awareness campaigns that are even more apt than explicit verbal or written messages. The study applies Kress and Leeuween’s approach to multimodal discourse analysis.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR P Language and Literature > PE English |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Humanities |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Esther Ajiboye |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jun 2016 16:28 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Jun 2016 16:28 |
| URI: | http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/6646 |
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