The paper examines the structural characteristics of bilingual puns, a specific type of wordplay.
Internet memes, containing bilingual puns as part of the verbal component from 9gag.com
were studied. The authors provide an overview of works dedicated to bilingual puns. It was found
that foreign researchers use the term “bilingual pun” more often than “interlingual puns.” However,
the presence of puns, with the wordplay based on homonymic lexemes taken from three or
more languages, makes a case for using the term “interlingual pun.” A number of scholars, including
the Russian ones, do not differentiate interlingual puns from interlingual paronomasia
or faux amis and pseudo-international words although the latter three are means of creating
an interlingual pun, a complex configuration, deciphering and analyzing of which requires certain
cognitive efforts. The research aims at examining the structural features of interlingual puns due
to their interlingual origin. In order to fulfil this task, the authors utilize V. P. Moskvin’s classification
based on strategies and tactics used in making puns. The following characteristics, not
taken into account in Moskvin’s system, were found: base language, the linguistic marker, graphical
diamorph, phonetic diamorph, the number of languages used in wordplay, mixed graphics,
blends and pure puns. To conclude, the interlingual puns are a separate type of wordplay, possessing
several features contingent on their interlingual origin. Since these puns use multilevel
elements of two or more languages within one syntagmatic entity, the interlingual puns are found
to be a unique type of wordplay. Thus, the authors suggest that it is necessary to create a classification
model that could take into account all the features discussed.
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