Uma oferta e uma recusa entre risos para evitar o desconforto: “a única coisa que eu não como é abóbora”

Roberto Perobelli; Rogério Carvalho de Holanda; Marcio Claudio dos Reis

doi:10.14393/DLv19a2025-58

Authors

Roberto Perobelli Federal University of Espírito Santo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8130-1061
Rogério Carvalho de Holanda Federal University of Espírito Santo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6306-9599
Marcio Claudio dos Reis Federal University of Espírito Santo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9587-3781

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/DLv19a2025-58

Keywords:

Social interaction, Preferred and dispreferred actions, Offer, Refusal, Laughter as an interactional resource

Abstract

This article investigates the role of laughter as an interactional resource in situations of discomfort, focusing on an episode of the Brazilian television show Mais Você, in which actress Taís Araújo refuses a serving of pumpkin gnocchi offered by host Ana Maria Braga. The research is grounded in the principles of ethnomethodologically informed Conversation Analysis and examines detailed transcripts of this interaction, whose audiovisual excerpt illustrates how laughter emerges as a mechanism for reorganizing the interactional sequence, decompressing the uncomfortable situation that was created while simultaneously ensuring the participants’ (re)alignment. The results indicate that laughter not only transforms the seriousness of the refusal into a light moment reframed as playfulness but also functions as a tool for maintaining interactional harmony. The analysis further shows that laughter operates as a multifunctional resource capable of reconfiguring the meaning of socially sensitive actions, such as refusing an offer in public. Through the co-construction of laughter among participants, it is possible to observe the negotiation of local meanings of action as well as the activation of affiliative strategies. The qualitative methodology adopted enabled the fine-grained observation of affective stances and multimodal actions associated with laughter, revealing how these practices sustain conversational continuity and prevent ruptures in interaction. In this way, the study contributes to the understanding of laughter within the dynamics of social interaction, offering relevant reflections for scholars and professionals in Applied Linguistics and related fields, such as Social Communication, particularly regarding how eliciting laughter can be used interactionally to manage complex situations as they occur. It is concluded that laughter functions, in this episode, as a sophisticated interactional resource that contributes to the management of dispreferred actions and tensions, being relevant to researchers interested in ordinary social practices and in how face-to-face relations are constructed in institutional and media contexts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Roberto Perobelli, Federal University of Espírito Santo

Doutorado em Linguística (2012) pela Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Professor da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES).
Rogério Carvalho de Holanda, Federal University of Espírito Santo

Doutor em Estudos Linguísticos na Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES). Desde 2005 pertence ao quadro efetivo do magistério da rede pública estadual de ensino do Espírito Santo e desde 2006 pertence ao quadro efetivo do magistério da rede pública municipal de ensino de Vitória.
Marcio Claudio dos Reis, Federal University of Espírito Santo

Doutor em linguítica pela Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES). Professor de Língua Inglesa (SEDU-ES).

References

BOGDAN, R. C.; BIKLEN, S. K. Investigação qualitativa em educação: uma introdução à teoria e aos métodos. Porto: Porto Editora, 1994.

BROTH, M. Seeing through screens, hearing through speakers: Managing distant studio space in television control room interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, v. 41, n. 10, p. 1998-2016, 2009. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.023

BROTH, M.; LAURIER, E.; MONDADA, L. Introduction. In: BROTH, M.; LAURIER, E.; MONDADA, L. (eds.). Studies of video practices: Video at work. Routledge, 2014. DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315851709

CECCON, D.; PEROBELLI, R.. Rindo e discordando: o gerenciamento do riso durante um debate no canal Spotniks. Estudos Linguísticos e Direitos Humanos: linguagem, interação e comunicação. Vol. 3. São Carlos: Pedro & João Editores, 2024. p. 13-35.

CLIFT, R. Identifying action: Laughter in non-humorous reported speech. Journal of Pragmatics, v. 44, p. 1303-1312, 2012. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.06.005

COULON, A. A inversão etnometodológica. In: Etnometodologia e Educação. São Paulo: Cortez, 2017. p. 21-39.

COUTO, C. S. L. O choro na interação: o gerenciamento de ações em episódios nos quais o choro é tornado relevante. Dissertação de mestrado. 111 fls. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (PPGEL/Ufes). Vitória/ES, 2021.

GARCEZ, P. M. A perspectiva da Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica sobre o uso da linguagem em interação social. In: LODER, L. L.; JUNG, N. M. (orgs.). Fala-em-interação social: Introdução à Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica. Campinas: Mercado das Letras, 2008. p. 17-38.

GARFINKEL, H. Estudos de etnometodologia. Editora Vozes Limitada, 2018.

GAVIOLI, L. Turn‐initial versus turn‐final laughter: Two techniques for initiating remedy in English/Italian bookshop service encounters. Discourse Processes, v. 19, n. 3, p. 369-384, 1995. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539509544923

GLENN, P. Laughter in Interaction. Nova York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511519888

HERITAGE, J. Conversation Analysis. In: Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984. p. 233-292.

JEFFERSON, G. On the organization of laughter in talk about troubles. In: ATKINSON, J. M.; HERITAGE, J. (eds.). Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: CUP, 1985. p. 346-369. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511665868.021

JEFFERSON, G.; SACKS, H.; SCHEGLOFF, E. A. Notes on laughter in the pursuit of intimacy. In: BUTTON, G.; LEE, J. R. E. (eds.). Talk and social organization. Multilingual Matters, 1987. p. 152–205. DOI https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.33169485.10

JEFFERSON, G. Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In: LERNER, G. H. (org.). Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation. Amsterdã: Benjamins, 2004. p. 13-31. DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef

JEFFERSON, G. Sometimes a frog in your throat is just a frog in your throat: Gutturals as (sometimes) laughter-implicative. Journal of Pragmatics, v. 42, p. 1467-1484, 2010. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.01.012

LOONEY, S. D.; HE, Y. Laughter and smiling: Sequential resources for managing delayed and disaligning responses. Classroom Discourse, v. 12, n. 4, p. 319-343, 2021. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2020.1778497

MAIS VOCÊ. Direção: Gustavo Alves e Luiz Castilho. TV Globo. Rio de Janeiro, 2017. Disponível em: https://globoplay.globo.com/v/5869557. Acesso em: 01 out. 2025.

MONDADA, L. Multiple Temporalities of Language and Body in Interaction: Challenges for Transcribing Multimodality. Research on Language and Social Interaction, v. 51, n. 1, p. 85-106, 2018. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2018.1413878

POMERANTZ, A. Agreeing and disagreeing with assessments: Some features of preferred/dispreferred turn shaped. In: ATKINSON, M.; HERITAGE, J. (eds.). Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. p. 57-101. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511665868.008

POMERANTZ, A.; HERITAGE, J. Preference. In: SIDNELL, J.; STIVERS, T. (eds.). The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2013. p. 210-228. DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325001.ch11

RACLAW, J.; FORD, C. E. Laughter and the management of divergent positions in peer review interactions. Journal of Pragmatics, v. 113, p. 1-15, 2017. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.03.005

SACKS, H. Notes on methodology. In: ATKINSON, J. M.; HERITAGE, J. Structures of Social Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

SCHEGLOFF, E. A. Reflections on Quantification in the Study of Conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction, v. 26, n. 1, p. 99-128, 1993. DOI https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi2601_5

SCHEGLOFF, E. A. Sequence organization in interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis I. Cambridge University Press, 2007. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791208

STEVANOVIC, M.; PERÄKYLÄ, A. Three orders in the organization of human action: On the interface between knowledge, power, and emotion in interaction and social relations. Language in Society, v. 43, n. 2, p. 185-207, 2014. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404514000037

STRID, E.; CEKAITE, A. Embodiment in reciprocal laughter. How emotions are made in talk, v. 321, p. 163, 2021. DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.321.06str

TAÍS ARAÚJO RECUSA COMER NHOQUE DE ABÓBORA DE ANA MARIA BRAGA. [S.l.: s.n.], 2017. 1 vídeo (02min16s). Publicado pelo canal Um pouco de tudo AZ. Disponível em: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tip6Pe6izoM. Acesso em: 01 out. 2025.

TANAKA, H. Solo or shared laughter in coparticipant criticism in Japanese conversation. East Asian Pragmatics, v. 3, n. 1, p. 125-149, 2018. DOI https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.35801