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Chapter 3. In defense of an ecumenical approach to irony

  • Robert Willison
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Irony in Language Use and Communication
This chapter is in the book Irony in Language Use and Communication

Abstract

The term “irony” has such a broad and apparently diverse range of application that it’s difficult for researchers to coordinate on a single, operational concept of their target of investigation, suitable for designing and interpreting experiments aimed at uncovering irony’s nature. Restrictive strategies for addressing this difficulty advocate restricting the target of empirical irony studies to some scientifically tractable subset of the phenomena “irony” picks out in ordinary language. Ecumenical approaches, in contrast, retain the ambition to account for “irony” across its apparently diverse range of usage. In this paper, I highlight the limitations of the best developed restrictivist approaches, throwing into relief the potential value of ecumenical strategies still in early stages of development.

Abstract

The term “irony” has such a broad and apparently diverse range of application that it’s difficult for researchers to coordinate on a single, operational concept of their target of investigation, suitable for designing and interpreting experiments aimed at uncovering irony’s nature. Restrictive strategies for addressing this difficulty advocate restricting the target of empirical irony studies to some scientifically tractable subset of the phenomena “irony” picks out in ordinary language. Ecumenical approaches, in contrast, retain the ambition to account for “irony” across its apparently diverse range of usage. In this paper, I highlight the limitations of the best developed restrictivist approaches, throwing into relief the potential value of ecumenical strategies still in early stages of development.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editors and contributors vii
  4. Foreword ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. Interdisciplinary perspectives on irony
  7. Chapter 1. Irony performance and perception 19
  8. Chapter 2. How does irony arise in experience? 43
  9. Chapter 3. In defense of an ecumenical approach to irony 61
  10. Part II. Irony, thought and (media) communication
  11. Chapter 4. Introducing a three-dimensional model of verbal irony 87
  12. Chapter 5. On ironic puns in Portuguese authentic oral data 109
  13. Chapter 6. Irony and sarcasm in follow-ups of metaphorical slogans 127
  14. Part III. Approaches to verbal irony
  15. Chapter 7. Irony, pretence and fictively-elaborating hyperbole 145
  16. Chapter 8. Cognitive modeling and irony 179
  17. Chapter 9. Irony has a metonymic basis 201
  18. Part IV. Approaches to studying irony
  19. Chapter 10. Defaultness shines while affirmation pales 219
  20. Chapter 11. The standard experimental approach to the study of irony 237
  21. Chapter 12. Investigating sarcasm comprehension using eye-tracking during reading 255
  22. Name index 277
  23. Subject index 279
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.1.04wil

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editors and contributors vii
  4. Foreword ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. Interdisciplinary perspectives on irony
  7. Chapter 1. Irony performance and perception 19
  8. Chapter 2. How does irony arise in experience? 43
  9. Chapter 3. In defense of an ecumenical approach to irony 61
  10. Part II. Irony, thought and (media) communication
  11. Chapter 4. Introducing a three-dimensional model of verbal irony 87
  12. Chapter 5. On ironic puns in Portuguese authentic oral data 109
  13. Chapter 6. Irony and sarcasm in follow-ups of metaphorical slogans 127
  14. Part III. Approaches to verbal irony
  15. Chapter 7. Irony, pretence and fictively-elaborating hyperbole 145
  16. Chapter 8. Cognitive modeling and irony 179
  17. Chapter 9. Irony has a metonymic basis 201
  18. Part IV. Approaches to studying irony
  19. Chapter 10. Defaultness shines while affirmation pales 219
  20. Chapter 11. The standard experimental approach to the study of irony 237
  21. Chapter 12. Investigating sarcasm comprehension using eye-tracking during reading 255
  22. Name index 277
  23. Subject index 279
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