Irony is traditionally understood as a trope which communicates the opposite of what is literally said. This definition stresses the semantic relevance of irony, which can be viewed, accordingly, as a contradiction between literal and figurative meaning. In everyday communication, however, the antiphrastic character of irony is often unclear, and other aspects come into play in its disambiguation. First of all, the psychological dimension, which helps distinguish what is said from what is unsaid (Jorgensen et al., 1984; Gibbs & O’Brien, 1991); secondly, the cognitive dimension involving implicitness, inferences and implicatures (Grice, 1975; Hamamoto, 1998; Bertuccelli Papi, 2000); and, thirdly, the pragmatic dimension of strategies (indirectness), motivations (e.g. speaker’s protection, avoiding conflict, politeness), and effects (esp. hostility and humour) which the use of irony entails (Leech, 1983; Attardo, 1994, 2001, 2003; Barbe, 1995; Colston & O’Brien, 1999; Gibbs & Colston, 2001). In this study irony is a broader concept than semantic reversal. It is not a type of humour (cf. Alexander, 1997), nor is humour a category of irony (cf. Jankélévich, 1987), but an effect irony produces when it is ‘overt’ (Muecke, 1980), i.e. when the speaker’s intentions are clear to the receiver, and ‘echoic’ (Sperber & Wilson, 1998), i.e. when the speaker echoes some antecedent material to express an attitude towards it. This study focuses on echoic irony, or irony obtained via mention (Sperber & Wilson, 1978, 1981; Mizzau, 1984). It analyses data selected from the popular US situation comedy Friends – in particular, from the first (1994-1995) and tenth (2003-2004) seasons – to show that, in the sitcom genre, more or less explicit mention is used as a cue of verbal irony. In particular, the study intends to demonstrate that: (a) a variety of material can be echoed: i.e. actual or imagined utterances, general norms and universal desires, attributed thoughts, etc.; (b) irony is on a continuum of attitudes to echoed material; (c) irony can combine with exaggeration, parody, hyperbole, etc., so that the inappropriateness of the echoed material in the context becomes even more manifest, and its disambiguation definitely easier.
New perspectives on echoic irony: The case of the US sitcom Friends
MATTIELLO, ELISA
2011-01-01
Abstract
Irony is traditionally understood as a trope which communicates the opposite of what is literally said. This definition stresses the semantic relevance of irony, which can be viewed, accordingly, as a contradiction between literal and figurative meaning. In everyday communication, however, the antiphrastic character of irony is often unclear, and other aspects come into play in its disambiguation. First of all, the psychological dimension, which helps distinguish what is said from what is unsaid (Jorgensen et al., 1984; Gibbs & O’Brien, 1991); secondly, the cognitive dimension involving implicitness, inferences and implicatures (Grice, 1975; Hamamoto, 1998; Bertuccelli Papi, 2000); and, thirdly, the pragmatic dimension of strategies (indirectness), motivations (e.g. speaker’s protection, avoiding conflict, politeness), and effects (esp. hostility and humour) which the use of irony entails (Leech, 1983; Attardo, 1994, 2001, 2003; Barbe, 1995; Colston & O’Brien, 1999; Gibbs & Colston, 2001). In this study irony is a broader concept than semantic reversal. It is not a type of humour (cf. Alexander, 1997), nor is humour a category of irony (cf. Jankélévich, 1987), but an effect irony produces when it is ‘overt’ (Muecke, 1980), i.e. when the speaker’s intentions are clear to the receiver, and ‘echoic’ (Sperber & Wilson, 1998), i.e. when the speaker echoes some antecedent material to express an attitude towards it. This study focuses on echoic irony, or irony obtained via mention (Sperber & Wilson, 1978, 1981; Mizzau, 1984). It analyses data selected from the popular US situation comedy Friends – in particular, from the first (1994-1995) and tenth (2003-2004) seasons – to show that, in the sitcom genre, more or less explicit mention is used as a cue of verbal irony. In particular, the study intends to demonstrate that: (a) a variety of material can be echoed: i.e. actual or imagined utterances, general norms and universal desires, attributed thoughts, etc.; (b) irony is on a continuum of attitudes to echoed material; (c) irony can combine with exaggeration, parody, hyperbole, etc., so that the inappropriateness of the echoed material in the context becomes even more manifest, and its disambiguation definitely easier.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
