Valorile zâmbetului şi ale râsului în constituirea replicilor de refuz şi acceptare [Articol]

Abstract

The smile and laughter. Many philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the essence of laughter and smile. Ch. Darwin said that laughter seems firstly to be an expression of plain pleasure and happiness. Referring to the inherited character of the smile Ch. Darwin brings to discussion the case of Laura Bridgman who due to her blindness and deafness could not take any facial expression through imitation. Although when she got a letter from a beloved friend and was told about its contents through gestures she laughed and clapped her hands and her cheeks blushed. Reasons why the man laughs are various but then the mechanism of laughter is al ways the same. The smile accompanies communication especially when there is an agreement with the speaker thus accepting his assertion and becoming his accomplice in a common situation. Life experience makes the man used to making a difference between various meanings of the speaker’s sm ile. Therefore a smile can be treated differently such as initiative, dream, politeness, support, compliance, and, at the same time, boredom, irony, obedience, trouble, shame, decency etc. The smile can become artificial as well in order not to seem hypocritical, but to stimulate the speaker even to a contemptible extent. Laughter usually accompanies the replies of acceptance and refusal in order to convey some conclusiveness. It is used in a refusal as to suggest the speaker a negative attitude towards what he says.