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Chapter 6. Irony and sarcasm in follow-ups of metaphorical slogans

  • Andreas Musolff
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Irony in Language Use and Communication
This chapter is in the book Irony in Language Use and Communication

Abstract

In public political discourse, figurative expressions used by one participant are often followed up and ‘countered’ by other participants through ironical allusions, comments and altered quotations aimed at denouncing the original version or deriving a new, contrarian conclusion from it. What is the relationship between metaphor and irony in such cases: are they independently processed and then added to each other in the overall interpretation or are they integrated into a ‘blended’, context-dependent implicature? Using data from a corpus documenting the long-running political debate in Britain about the nation’s place at the heart of Europe, this paper investigates the interplay of metaphor, irony and sarcasm in comprehension processes. It is argued that the latter two involve speaker-hearer-shared awareness of aspects of the ‘discourse history’ of the slogan, including a default version of the metaphor, which in the case of sarcasm, is recontextualised in a contrasting scenario (e.g. that of a dead, rotting, diseased heart) with the aim of insulting or disqualifying the echoed or pretended ‘preceding’ speaker.

Abstract

In public political discourse, figurative expressions used by one participant are often followed up and ‘countered’ by other participants through ironical allusions, comments and altered quotations aimed at denouncing the original version or deriving a new, contrarian conclusion from it. What is the relationship between metaphor and irony in such cases: are they independently processed and then added to each other in the overall interpretation or are they integrated into a ‘blended’, context-dependent implicature? Using data from a corpus documenting the long-running political debate in Britain about the nation’s place at the heart of Europe, this paper investigates the interplay of metaphor, irony and sarcasm in comprehension processes. It is argued that the latter two involve speaker-hearer-shared awareness of aspects of the ‘discourse history’ of the slogan, including a default version of the metaphor, which in the case of sarcasm, is recontextualised in a contrasting scenario (e.g. that of a dead, rotting, diseased heart) with the aim of insulting or disqualifying the echoed or pretended ‘preceding’ speaker.

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.1.07mus

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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