Résumé:
According to Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory, politeness manages face-threatening
acts to maintain social harmony, while humor, according to Martin’s Humor Styles
Questionnaire, fosters connection through positive styles like affiliative and self-enhancing
humor. This study investigates how humor functions as a politeness strategy in informal
interactions among Master One EFL learners at Laarbi Tebessi University. It is grounded in
Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory (1987) and Martin’s Humor Style Questionnaire
(2003), which together provide the theoretical foundation for analyzing politeness and humor
strategies. It addresses the research problem of how learners use humor as a politeness
strategy. To investigate the two main research questions, the first question aims to explore the
types and functions of humor used, while the second question focuses on how humor is
strategically employed as a politeness strategy. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study
employs Conversation Analysis to examine spontaneous interactions collected through
phone-recorded informal conversations. The population consists of Master One students
specializing in Language Sciences, from which a sample of 13 participants was drawn to take
part in three sessions, two group-specific and one joint session. The findings underscore
humor’s instrumental role in fostering smooth interaction. These insights demonstrate that
humor effectively supports politeness by fostering rapport and reinforcing a sense of in-group
identity, and advance the understanding of its pragmatic functions.