From Pictures to Words: A Linguistic Approach to Comic Strip Humor

Abstract

Research on comic strip humor in linguistic studies has yet to be done much by scientists. Comic features that convey messages in pictures and words cause linguists to examine humor more in its verbal elements only. This study's objectives were: 1) creating a transcription method that linguists can use to study comics, 2) analyzing how authors create humor, and 3) describing how to understand the purpose of humor in comic strips. The corpus was a comic strip book entitled The Best of Sazae-san (Hasegawa, 2015). The data were analyzed using linguistics, narrative, and humor theories. The study's results found that the transcription method proposed in this study can translate visual into verbal narratives through three elements: The character, setting, and perspective. This research can also show how comic humor is created with a twist in the form of a punch line that subverts readers' expectations, as well as that comic strips' humor, in addition to aiming to entertain, also criticizes.

Keywords

• humor
• comic strip
• visual narrative
• comic transcription
• communication