The Universal Language of Laughter

Running head: THE LAUNGUAGE OF LAUGHTER

The Universal Language of Laughter: A Worldwide Phenomenon

Caroline Smith

ANTH 2302

Professor B. Vallejo

University of Houston – Downtown

April 28, 2015

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THE LANGUAGE OF LAUGHTER

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Introduction

Laughter is an inherent human characteristic that is universally shared across the globe.

According to Montagu (1961), while each community has its unique factors that may arouse

laughter, the act of laughing is recognized regardless of language, culture or ethnicity.

Sociologists, philosophers and psychologists have all conducted classical research on the human

phenomena of humor and laughter. However, research by anthropologists has been sparse until

recently, despite the fact that humor and laughter are undeniable intertwined in society and

culture. Some recent studies have subscribed to the ideology that laughter is a sensational

activity with seizure-like nature that is stimulated through interacting with amusing cognitive

impetuses (Polimeni & Reiss, 2006). Some contemporary studies assert that laughter is a means

of communicating assorted messages or conveying ideas (Gervais & Wilson, 2005). This implies

that laughter is an instinctive ally to the languages used from land to land. In this paper, I will

explore laughter as a worldwide phenomenon and present explanations relating laughter and

humor to the universality of the experience.

Origin of Laughter

Most theories and empirical approaches used by classical ethnologists and other scholars

in the social science realm to conceptualize the genesis of humor and laughter enclose insights

that typically explain why laughter withstood the consequence of Babel. McComas (1923)

asserts that laughter is an indispensable trait of the human anatomy and an essential assistant to

the evolution of the human race. McComas (1923) identifies laughter as a trait that inherently

progresses from one phase of the evolution of the human race to the other,...