FUNCTIONS OF ANTHROPONYMS IN ENGLISH COMEDY SHOWS

Abstract

FUNCTIONS OF ANTHROPONYMS IN ENGLISH COMEDY SHOWS Comedy shows, as a genre of comic discourse, attract viewers not only because of their entertainment but also because of the coverage of the most important problems of mankind at a humorous angle. Artists who perform in the genre of stand-up comedy, with the help of their jokes, reveal inconsistencies of society, refl ect the moral values of different nationalities, exposing ethnic stereotypes and prejudice. The article analyses functions of anthroponyms in English comic discourse. Anthroponyms have been widely used by comics primarily as a means of establishing interactive communication with the audience. They allow comedians to address the audience demonstrating the inconsistency between their names and appearance, thus reveal the modern world that is often unpredictable and sometimes absurd because of shifted landmarks. Anthroponyms used in comedy shows as well as their functions have been investigated in this article. The communicative, expressive and cultural functions, as well as the function of creating a comical image, have been defi ned. The essence of incongruity, i. e. a cognitive mechanism of comedy reached, among others, with the help of anthroponyms, has been determined. The examples of violations of logical and conceptual, language and ontological norms that lead to incongruity in jokes with anthroponyms have been examined.