Psychological research on the laugh-speak

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In this research, we investigated the phenomenon that people phrase words laughingly i.e. laugh-speak in three different situations: 1)in the interview settings, 2)in the drinking bar, and 3)in the interview program of American TV. The conversations in these three settings were recorded, then transcribed by using conversation analysis notations. On the basis of the transcriptions, laugh-speaks were identified and analyzed. The results were as follows. Firstly, the use of laugh-speak was not limited among Japanese people. American people often used laugh-speak as well. Secondly, the laugh-speaks were often observed when people phrase words repeatedly, hesitatingly, or indirectly. And also, people cited the words of others laughingly. Thirdly, the functions of these laugh-speaks were estimated as the alteration of the degree of strength of what the speakers said, and as the expression of affective judgments on or attitude to what they said. These results showed that laugh-speak plays important roles in the interpersonal communications. The functions of laugh-speaks should be beyond the scope which Jefferson(1979) and Tani(1986) has been asserted. However, the effectiveness of laugh-speak remained unclear except the case in which the listeners accepted the laughter of speakers and laughed.