Humor in the Plenary Sessions of the Finnish Parliament
Keywords:
humor, sarcasm, parliamentary speech, Finnish parliamentAbstract
This paper investigates the humor used in Finnish parliament in plenary sessions 21.6., 22.6. and 27.6.2023 (N=283). During these sessions parliament discussed the government programme of prime minister Petteri Orpo´s government. Findings of the paper include that all political parties tend to use different forms of humor, most notably irony. Though, the sample concerning smallest parties is rather minute. The populist right party Perussuomalaiset, which was in government, was both a prominent (though not unique) user of humor, but also clearly one of the main targets of humor, surpassing all other parties by far. Also, the centrist party keskusta, which was the most usual target of humor in opposition, did also have the highest frequency of humor usage. This suggests that use of humor in parliament might provoke more humor as a response and it may thus set a certain tone for the upcoming discussion.
