Ya as Discourse Marker: Indonesian Stand – Up Comedy Strategy in Producing Laughter

This paper would explore an analysis of discourse markers ya as Indonesian stand – up comedy strategy in producing laughter. The spotlight would focus on how ya, as the major marker, performed in professional stand-up comedy performance. How they used ya in 7-10 minutes performance could illustrate the basis natural performance in bursting laughter and the enhancement of audience’s response in laughter. It argued for an approach based upon two level functions of discourse markers by Brinton (1996); textual level and interpersonal level. Both functions determined the functions of discourse markers. The result explored the relationship not only the bursting laughter but also between stand – up technique and discourse markers. Finally, this study leads into examination of ya as Indonesian discourse marker into the development of humor research within linguistics study.