BRIEF ANALYSIS OF NONSENSE STOCK WITTICISMS IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

Authors

  • Adauri Brezolin PhD in English Language, Independent Researcher, Brazil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v6i3.416

Keywords:

absurd humor, Brazilian Portuguese, phraseologism, situational formulae spoonerism, stock phrase

Abstract

In this manuscript, I discuss the linguistic traits, the effect, and the function of combinations like “do not confuse X with Y”, commonly found in Brazilian Portuguese (não confunda X com Y). For that, I touch on issues related to phraseologisms, situational formulae, and stock phrases. Due to their peculiar syntax and semantics, I also discuss the presence of bisociative and absurd humor in such combinations. The study corpus consists of 40 occurrences extracted from the internet, mainly from blogs. My analysis has both reiterated the highly colloquial status of such structures, as a type of stock phrase used in a specific situation (warning someone about a possible confusion) and revealed that they make use of different linguistic mechanisms associated with nonsense, especially, through spoonerisms and wordplays, the result of which are illogical and absurd constructions.

Author Biography

  • Adauri Brezolin, PhD in English Language, Independent Researcher, Brazil

    Adauri Brezolin holds a doctoral degree in English Language from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He taught in several translation undergraduate programs for more than 30 years. He is the co-author of the following dictionaries: Pequeno Dicionário de Expressões Idiomáticas e Coloquialismos (Fiuza, 2001), Whatchamacallit? Novo dicionário português-inglês de idiomatismos e coloquialismos (Disal, 2006), Happy Couples - dicionário de colocações lexicais adjetivas (Disal, 2010) e The word is the thing: dicionário português-inglês de fórmulas situacionais, frases feitas e provérbios (Lexikos, 2019). He has also published articles on the translation of wordplays, and other subjects (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4990-0224). His research interests are the teaching of translation, idiomaticity, conventionality, terminology, and Corpus Linguistics. He is also a freelance translator.

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Published

2023-02-24

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 (2023)

Section

Articles