Arabic Verbal Humor: An Exploration of Non-Observance of Cooperative Principle on Social Media

Abstract

This paper explores how Jordanians violated and flouted Grice's Cooperative Principle maxims and the purposes behind their non-observance in creating Arabic humor related to the COVID-19 pandemic on AlMamlaka and Roya Jordanians' Facebook accounts. The study conducted qualitative content analysis on 12 Facebook comments from March to September 2020 and found that Jordanians violated and flouted all the maxims to convey their hidden messages. The analysis revealed that the purposes of the non-observance were to generate implicatures and highlight various issues faced by Jordanians during the pandemic. These issues included government announcements, non-compliance with health guidelines, conspiracy theories about the virus's origin, impacts on family relationships, discomfort from wearing masks, the boredom of lockdown and some geographical areas targeted for their early source of spreading the virus. The findings indicate that humor can serve as an effective tool for highlighting social and political issues. The study recommends exploring the non-observance of cooperative maxims in different contexts and how it affects the interpretation and reception of humor. Overall, the study suggests that humor played a significant role in addressing and discussing the situation in Jordan during the pandemic.