“En serio, de verdad, os lo juro”El uso de los modalizadores epistémicos con función intensificadora en el monólogo humorístico subversivo

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the intensifier particles in planned humour discourse. Our main hypothesis is that the use of expressions that intensify the truthiness of what is said, such as en serio, de verdad or te lo juro, is one of the argumentative strategies used by the Spanish female comedians in order to make their speech more plausible. With the aim of verifying this assumption, this study reflects a corpus of 15 humorous monologues performed in different Spanish auditoriums and theatres during the years 2017 and 2018. The transcription and segmentation of these samples has allowed us to draw the frequency of use regarding the different intensification linguistic procedures, as well as to examine the functions that intensification fulfils as a pragmatic and argumentative strategy. The results obtained certify that the Spanish female comedians under review use intensification during their performances so as to foster the humorous effect and to make their speech more believable and, consequently, achieve the adhesion of the audiece.