Irony and Gender Styles of Humour in the Workplace

This study is concerned with the irony and the gender styles applied in humorous interaction at the workplace. The objectives of the study are to describe the meaning types of irony, gender styles, and functions of irony used by the employees in the humorous interaction at the workplace. The study uses the descriptive qualitative method and applies the interactive model by Miles, Hubermen and Saldana which provides data collection, data condensation, data display, drawing and verifying conclusions. The findings of this study show that there are 2 (two) meaning types of irony found inside humorous interaction in the workplace. The dominant type of ironical expression appeared in the interaction is Meaning replacement type, the dominant gender styles applied is Masculine style, and the most typical function of irony used is Group Affiliation. It concludes that people more dominantly use ironical expressions with Meaning Replacement type of irony inside humorous interaction in the workplace than Meaning Reversal type. It can be stated that male and female employees used humour when they interact in the workplace and the dominant gender styles used is Masculine style rather than Feminine style. Also, it can be achieved that each irony which is expressed by gender has function, and the function that often used is Group Affiliation.