Humor and media are such intertwined phenomena that it may be hard to tackle one without resorting to the other: A study with Special Reference to Telangana Dialect used by V6 Channel journalist (Bithiri sathi)

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आभ्यंतर (Aabhyantar)      SCONLI-12  विशेषांक         ISSN : 2348-7771

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21. Humor and media are such intertwined phenomena that it may be hard to tackle one without resorting to the other:  A study with Special Reference to Telangana Dialect used by V6 Channel journalist (Bithiri sathi)

Lyadalla Rajashekar : MA, EFLU, Hyderabad

Abstract

A Discourse analysis based on Humor and Language in media in reference to Telangana dialect unleashes the flood of sociolinguistic underpinnings of the Telugu regional dialect used by Telugu journalist Bithiri Sathi. This work not only attempts to uncover the sociolinguistic, phonetic, morpho-syntactic analysis of the language but also it thread bares the Bithiri Sathi’s personality based on his discourse style. The equation between the personal as well as the posed professional personality, if there is one, will highlight the interplay of the conflict between the confirming with the social norms and the personal rebel buried deep inside Bithiri as the subject. This presentation is a study on humor in discourse of the regional dialect used by Telugu journalist Bithiri Sathi. Four levels of humor are examined. The present study focuses on two perspectives (i) Phonetic analysis (ii) Sociolinguistic analysis, (iii) morph-syntactic and (iv) discourse analysis

At the first the study focuses on speech production to create humor in presenting news effectively. The second level is analyzed from the social perspective, use of language variety which shifts between different dialects of Telugu. The third level is (morph-syntactic) analyses, the interaction between language and the socio-political context to create comedy with use of Meta thesis at word level as well as sentence level. The fourth level is (discourse analysis) discourse on appearance and mannerism used by Sathi to attract everyone with his different way of approach towards audience.

According to these four levels, some basic work can be done on   findings of the linguistic devices used for creating humorous effect in verbal interactions which includes phonetic, lexical and discourse devices. The irony to current societal situation in Telangana accent results from the social interactions among interlocutors, language choice and language form as dialects which contrast with standard Telugu language and its connection with local culture in the socio-political context of modern Telangana dialect which is used to create humor by news reporter Sathi. These findings were consistent with the results of other studies of influence of comedian language and development of Telangana dialect which explores translation and humor issues in the realm of the media, with a view to set a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic comprehension of humorous communication.

Introduction about Telangana dialect

Telengana dialect, a caste dialect spoken by Kapus and Jhar Kapus giving the name Jhar Telangana to the people who speak it, is a lesser known dialect of Telugu.Telangi speaking people are ethnically Telugu Oonmunlty and hence the dialect can be referred to as having ethnic associations. It is the extension of the Telangi speaking community of Bastar and therefore is spoken in a very limited geographical area of about 15 villages in Bijapur Tehsil which gives it a regional character. These villages form speech islands within a predominantly Gondi speaking region. The Telangi dialect also has linguistic affinity with the Telugu of Telangana.

The Telugu form spoken in Bijapur Tehsil is hardly distinguishable phonologically lexically grammatically and syntactically from the kind of Telugu spoken in Telangana.

The Telaga community is the non Brahmin community in Andhra. Telangi is considered as “Apabhramsa” by Telugu speakers and hence even make fun of telangi speakers by calling them “ikkadimi tikkadimi”.

There is long history behind telanga tribe in Bastar which dates back to 9^th century. There was Nagavmsi dynasty, also known as chokrakota kingdom, which was invaded by Eastern Chalukya, Chola, Western Chalukya and Hoyasala princes. The region was also ruled by kakathiya dynasty which claimed to be the descendents  of Pandu dynasty.so the present Telangana tribe is not a recent infiltration into Bastar therefore the present Telanga tribes are chiefly located around the old Telugu kingdom which included Dantewada,Bijapur, Barasur,Bhairangarh and Jaggergonda .

This history of the dialect makes it a dialect which is considered not to be of any esteem and hence is spoken by the people who belong to lower strata of the society. This might be also the reason behind it being getting vanished or forgotten.

MEDIA AND HUMOUR

Humour is mutable and unpredictable and it does not come easy. One has to be noteworthy and if one possesses the skill one will be able to market the whole shebang, the whole schmear efficiently as well as persuasively. As said by Angie Pascale of click Z-“Laughter is a universal language and one of our first communication methods. Before we had spoken a written language, humans used laughter to express our enjoyment or accession with a certain situation.  Studies suggest that humor has unrestricted ecumenical allure and fascination.

He by adorning Humor, without violating the boundaries, which if done can land the presenter in the clutches of law and restraining from making inroads in the personal peripheries of the audience apparently, it coerces and shapes the opinion of the audience adroitly. Positioning is the basic of any marketing strategy and what Bithari is doing is attempting to utilize humour optimally to establish the V6 channel of one of the Telugu dialects of Telangana

Mediaportrays the society and humor is the way to present the realities of life in a way which tones down the thorny prick of the matter hence enabling the presentation of news easy and acceptable. Humour sarcastically portrays news without making the situation tense and therefore hitting the bull’s eye. It in a polished and shrouded way psychologically impacts the psyche of the audience.

Background about Bithiri Sathi

 Bithiri Sathi a television pseudonym for Chevella Ravi is a Telugu TV anchor, reporter and actor born to a father who was a good drama performer. Sathi had an inborn skill of imitating people. Bithiri which means as a mentally immature person in Telugu is the title character played by him. He is portrayed as an intellectually disabled person as a part of the daily news. The daily news program Teen Maar News is presented in the parody genre which focuses on current affairs, politicians and social issues rooted in the social fabric.

Born to a father who was a drama performer. He was a good mimicry artist and was good at imitating people to create humour. He was a good mimicry artist and was good at imitating people to create humour. In 2007 he under takes acting as career. He debuted in Comedy Club show on the Zee Telugu as a stand-up comedian. His role along with the other host, Savithri, is funny and she asks him hilarious questions in a vernacular Telangana dialect.

Discussion:

Level I and Level II: Phonetic and Morpho -Syntactic Analysis

Linguistic devices used for creating Humour:

Meta thesis

Meta thesis is a term coined to represent the word which is spelled wrongly or by inter-changing phones within one morpheme. This can be clarified with the following example (minute) /mɪnɪt/ is spelled as (nimit) /nɪmɪt/.

This occurrence is not just because of slip of tongue instead it is intentionally pronounced to bring effectiveness in the speech that catches the attention of the audience. Sometimes it can be a language problem.

·        Slip of the tongue: In regular speech sometimes people spell the word conversely when they are unconscious in their speech. 

·        Intentionally produced: People stay alert in their speech while doing Meta thesis in cases like games or a piece of speech to be spoken.

·        Language problem: some languages around the world do not allow some phones after some phone like in Punjabi /k/ cannot be produced immediately at /s/ the pronounce /skul/ as /sukul/ one can accept it as a language barrier.

Here Bithiri is intentional in his speech to do Meta thesis .This phenomenon is used by him to create humour effectively, in every stance of his speech he uses Meta thesis intentionally which is scripted to evoke humour among the audience. This brought him not only fame in the society but also a kind of social responsibility to present Telangana dialect on small screen.

 His metathesis can be analyzed at two extremes, on one side metathesis is focused on creating humour but on the other end he is portraying language barriers which can have both good and bad impact on society, Firstly, it is giving a chance to realize our mistakes in our daily language use and secondly he is providing a chance to the younger generation to imitate him. Because of him being so popular youth imitates him with a notion of being called stylish and cool. In the process they learn a forgotten dialect which otherwise they have not. So humour in media will not only create fun but it also weeds out the cultural mistake.

Examples of Metathesis

(Note-These examples are in English for a clear understanding of metathesis. Words can be replaced with any language)

Total replacement of the word but still meaning is understood by the audience

Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
Face book	Passbook
Request	Respect
Appointment	Apartment
Important	Imported
Sunrise	Sunrays
Senseless	Science less
Spoil	Smile
Discourage	Discharging
Hit	Heat

All these words as similar to each other in sound. Consonants and vowels as replaced with the nearest one. For example in ‘hit’./hit/ is replaced with / hiːt/ In conversation it is clearly understood by the first and second person but when it is heard by a third person, meaning is wrongly conveyed.

Total replacement of the sounds but still meaning is understood by the audience

Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
Platform	flat form
Hero	Vero
switch off	Fix off
Bank	Benk
Crazy	Cragy

Here sounds are replaced because it is hard to produce these sounds in that particular place due to the adjacent sounds.

             Mixing of sounds but still meaning is understood by the audience

Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
Google	Gulgul
Internet	Intlanet
Buffet system	Buffalo system
Dubbing	Dubbiling

 Here /l/ is infixed to produce the sound. It can be intrusive /l/ most of the native Telugu speakers use intrusive /l/ in both English and Telugu.

Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
Entira   /entɪrɑ/	entiLa
Sai    /sɑɪ/	Shai

                             Words are produced with inflections

Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
Action	Auctioning
Develop	Development
Dam	Damage

Some speakers of Telugu in rural area always use these inflections.

All these phonetic errors are not only with English but they are same in Telugu language too. These errors are clearly portrayed by Sathi which has a great impact on the society. Awareness that comes because of humor and easy learning and involvement of slang in the Bithiri’s discourse brings effective change in people unconsciously. The dialect he uses is beaded with Metathesis and to convey the matter legibly, his mistakes are side by side corrected by his co-presenter Savitri. This makes the audience to understand the correct form of the dialect.

Paradigms in Telugu:

A.     Plural marker: Telugu has only one plural marker -lu  (లు)  Ex: పుస్తకాలు  //pusθəkəlu//

Issue: Here is in Telugu, if any word ending with “Lu” then its plural is different “LLu”

Ex: ఇల్లు /ɪɭu/ “Lu” (singlular) ,  ఇళ్ళు /ɪɭɭu/ “LLu” (plural)

B.  Case markers

1. Locative: -ki (కి) while questioning ఎక్కడికివెళ్తూనవు.//ekədiki velθunɑv//

        -ku (కు) while answering  ప్యారిస్నుండిజినీవకుఒకరైలు. //pærɪs nundɪ ʤenɪvɑku ɔka rɑɪlu//

2. Possessive:   -Yokka (యొక్క)  రాజుయొక్కఇల్లు  // rɑʤu jɔkə ɪɭu//

Issue1:In some cases it is acceptable without possessive maker in order to make is simpler

Ex: ఆదిరాజుఇల్లు.  //əθɪ rɑʤu ɪɭʋ//

Issue2: ఆఇల్లురాజుది  //ɑ ɪɭʋ rɑʤu dɪ //  here “ది” act as a possessive marker.

3 Nominative: In Telugu nominative case is different for both the genders 

Issue1:ఎక్కడఉన్నాడు (masculine) //ekɑda unadu //

Issue2:ఎక్కడఉన్నది (feminine) //ekɑda unaθɪ//

C.           Post-positions:  Telugu follow SOV word order and it has post-positions

Ex: ప్యారిస్నుండిజినీవకుఒకరైలు//pærɪs nʋndɪ ʤenɪvaku ɔka rɑɪlu//

All these rules are not maintained by the native speaker now it has become a barrier to next generation. This media is depicting the reality of Telugu slang and rules with two way conversation in v6 channel.

Level III and Level IV: Sociolinguistic and Discourse Analysis

Bithiri undertakes the mimicry style of a disabled person which on one hand enables him to present the matter in a humorous way and on the other provides him immunity from the political, personal, legal and influential conglomerates’ wrath for the satire he portrays. Bithiri’s personal background and social norms strewn upbringing is another aspect which emphatically impacts his use of humor in his discourses.

 The dialect entwined with humor Bithari uses, furthermore penetrates deeply in the society because of its blurred affiliation with the society. This blurred and almost forgotten dialect got revived socially not only locally but also universally because of the fascination and the ripples it is creating in the media just because of the humor it is alloying with the media. Children are imitating him, movie makers are taking up his style as the theme for their movies, slang has taken over the linguistic imagination of the society.

  Through its humor it attracts and stealthily snatches the audience of other channels, glues the audience to the channel because it presents the routine mundane news pieces with such a flair that it enables the channel to ascend its TRP ratings. The program has become the star attraction of the channel. He has tasted immense success even on YouTube by virtue of millions of hits and has become a sensation amongst the Telugu audience throughout the world.

When asked in an interview about the gestures of his fingers, he answered that his fingers style shows his criticism not only of the rest of the society but also of himself by pointing one of the fingers towards himself as well. The discourse highlights the pressure embedded on him passively. He attempts to weave a protection cocoon around him either from the otherwise likely legal action for breach of respect of the parties he is portraying or from the social hierarchy squeeze of him being from the deprived section imprinted in his psyche.

To take the guise of the central character of the news item is another of his ways of discourse undertaken in a humorous fashion. This not only adds humour but also spices it up with the drama which makes him understandable even to the most uneducated of the social strata.

The linguistic history of the language making it a low prestige dialect has been completely reversed by making it a dialect in vogue in the society. This shows that how media and humour have played the role of a fortune turner for the dialect and hence making it a modish and cool quotient in the society which considered it to be of a subaltern strata..

Methodology:

 The data is collected from the journalist Bithiri Sathi and the people from Telangana region. The words are collected from THEENMAR VARTHALU from V6 News channel. This data is collected having informal meetings, interviews, and observing people conversations in villages and in educational around Telangana

Results:

 His way of presenting not only impacting him socially but also turning a fresh leaf in the social norms towards the forgotten Telangana dialect. The dialect which was considered to be devoid of prestige is now in vogue. The slangs are liberally used and the style is considered modish.

The outcome paints a social scenario which appears to be volatile as the mode of presentation of Bithari has made the social presence of the dialect more acceptable. It has been elated to the position where it is being followed and imitated diligently by not only the children but also by the grown-ups  and is being mirrored back to the society in the form of movies. The dialect is making a huge come back in the social circles impacting the societal norms by interfering the socio-linguistic approach of the society.

Conclusion

 The mesh of humour and media is so intricate that one is auxiliary to the other. If humour augments the appeal of media, glamorizes the discourse and armors the presenter then media aids in reinforcing the things which are on the verge of becoming obsolete as in the case of Telangana dialect which is being referred to in this paper.    The inter-mingling of humour with the media shows the inter play of these two suave yet influential modes in such an inevitably inseparable manner that they are eternally intertwined and impact each other emphatically.

References

·         Krishnamurti, B., A Grammar of Modern Telugu. 1985, Delhi; NewYork: Oxford University Press.

·         Graded Readings in Modern Literary Telugu, selected by G. N. Reddi and B. Matson.

·         Leigh Lisker, Introduction to Spoken Telugu American council of learned societies, 1963.

·         Graded Readings in Newspaper Telugu, selected by G. N. Reddi and B. Matson.

·         Chambers, John Kenneth. Dialectology. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

·         Crystal, David. Dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Vol. 30. John Wiley & Sons, 1986.

·          Hudson, Richard Anthony. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

·         Grigson,Sir Wilfred, The Maria Gonds of Bastar 1938 OU.P .page 3

·         Rai Bahadur Hiralal,inscripitions in the C.P. and Berar 1916 Nagpur.p.144 .157