COMMUNICATIVE AND CULTURAL FUNCTIONS OF HUMOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK DISCOURSE

Аннотация

Humor is a universal yet culturally conditioned phenomenon that plays a significant role in human communication. This article investigates the communicative and cultural functions of humor through a comparative analysis of English and Uzbek discourse. Drawing on theories from pragmatics, politeness studies, and cultural linguistics, the study adopts a qualitative discourse-analytical approach to examine how humor operates as a strategic communicative resource and as a reflection of culturally embedded values. The analysis demonstrates that in both English and Uzbek contexts humor serves key communicative functions, including the establishment of social solidarity, mitigation of face-threatening acts, and indirect expression of evaluation and criticism. However, the linguistic strategies employed to achieve these functions differ considerably. English humor is predominantly characterized by irony, understatement, and self-deprecating forms, reflecting cultural preferences for indirectness and ambiguity. In contrast, Uzbek humor relies more heavily on narrative structures, exaggeration, and moral framing, highlighting collectivist values and ethical orientation. The findings further reveal that humor functions as a mechanism for cultural identity construction and social regulation in both linguistic communities. By comparing English and Uzbek humorous discourse, the study underscores the interdependence of communicative intent and cultural context in humor interpretation and highlights the potential challenges humor poses in intercultural communication