London. In order to divulge about science, a good sense of humour is necessary. This is one of the conclusions reached from a study conducted by Elisa Mattiello, an English language research in the Department of Philology, Literature, and Linguistics of the University of Pisa. She analysed TED Talks focusing on science and medicine between 2010 and 2015. Her research, published on the “International Journal of Language Studies” investigated the linguistic characteristics of TED Talks, a type of communication that is at the crossroads between a university lecture and a conference that also reflects multi-media inputs from the Web and abundant productivity on a global platform. The study focused in particular on three aspects: reduced technical vocabulary in the content and lexicon, the use of a more informal register typically used in conversation – including a humoristic tone and the use of narration i.e. experiences or personal anecdotes to introduce specialist topics. “In TED Talks, speakers rarely use medical or scientific terminology if not accompanied by explanations or paraphrasing and to communicate to non-specialists and reduce the distance between speaker and audience” explains Elisa Mattiello. “The TED Talks are also rich in narrative that allow the speakers to spark sympathetic or empathetic reactions from the audience. One of their characteristics is the use of humour, which can derive by incongruence or self-irony used to lighten tensions arising from serious and delicate topics such as diseases”. (9colonne)
