City Epic as a Play With Linguistic Norm (by Example of „Georgian“ Jokes and Their Russian Versions)

Abstract

The article examines „Georgian“ jokes as a speech genre in which the linguistic norm is violated through connotative redu­plication and other forms of language play. Based on Bakhtin’s theory of speech genres and the study of humor, an anecdote is interpreted as a metalanguage practice reflecting social attitu­des towards normality, deviation, and linguistic authority. The analysis is carried out in the context of the linguistically po­lyphonic urban space of Old Tiflis, where Russian historically served as the language of the empire, comparable to the role of French in Southeastern Europe. This sociolinguistic situati­on contributed to active language contact and the formation of hybrid speech forms, which later became a source of anecdotal texts. Special attention is paid to reduplication as a key mecha­nism for creating a comic effect in „Georgian“ jokes. Echo con­structions such as shashlik-mashlyk, salad-malat, culture-multur do not have an independent denotation. However, they perform pragmatic and semiotic functions: they enhance the expressive­ness of the utterance, mark irony, and refer to a conscious de­viation from the norm. An analysis of Soviet and post-Soviet anecdotal empirical material, including the „Georgian“ typical characters Gogi and Givi, shows that reduplication serves to car­nivalize the norm and symbolically explore the center-periphery relationship. At the end of the article, the author concludes that reduplication in „Georgian“ jokes is a key mechanism of the co­mic effect. The „echoes“ of main parts of words, such as multur, malat, and mashlik, lack independent denotation and serve to carnivalize linguistic norms and increase the expressiveness of speech. They assume knowledge of the normative code and turn deviation from the norm into a conscious language game and a form of collective language memory