Humour in Pakruok Among the Luo of Kenya: Do Current Theories of Humour Effectively Explain Pakruok?

Abstract

Many studies have been carried out on the Dholuo oral literature genre known as pakruok (Parkin 1978, Amuka 2000, Masolo 2000 and Mwangi 2009). Other studies have been carried out on how humour is created in language (Walsh 1995, Alison 1998, Simpson 2003 and Salvatore 2009).  However, these studies have not targeted pakruok as a source of humour. The use of pakruok as a joke telling session is an important sociolinguistic phenomenon that needs to be examined. This essay analyses the linguistic aspects used to create humour in pakruok in the Dholuo cultural, social and environmental contexts.