摘要：Group discussions were conducted, in five different occupational categories, in a medium-sized Swedish town. The occupational areas were the media, politics, business, culture and the civil service. An analysis is presented of how the interviewees expressed their alcohol habits in serious speech as compared to humourous speech. The participants' statements concerning their own alcohol consumption are related to expressions of what are called modulations in systemic functional linguistics. These form part of the ideational component of language, which concerns the way we communicate experience. Our choice of modulations demonstrates our attitude to the conditions that we describe regulate our ability to act. In serious speech, the speakers tend to value cautious drinking, setting sharp limits to how and when the use of alcohol is appropriate. As regards humourous speech, however, the situation is to a large extent the opposite: the interviewees picture themselves as under external constraints in connection to alcohol. The issues where we find humour is also where we find controversy in serious speech. The differences of opinion that arise, concerning everyday habits and the role model one represents as a parent, give rise to a number of jokes. The parts of serious discource that concern other people display a very different content, having to do with drinking too much, not being able to handle one's liquor consumption and not being permitted to drink alcohol – a content reflected in humourous form when the interviewees talk about themselves.
关键词：alcohol drinking ; group interview ; humour ; mundane reasoning ; Sweden
