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Chapter 8. Cognitive modeling and irony

  • Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
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Irony in Language Use and Communication
This chapter is in the book Irony in Language Use and Communication

Abstract

This chapter studies the role of the pragmatic notion of echo in creating ironic meaning. The notion of echo is treated as a cognitive operation rather than just a pragmatic task, which combines with other cognitive operations of at least two kinds: concept-building and inferential. The former operations include the creation of echoed and observed scenarios. The latter include the cancellation and addition of structure in an echoed scenario resulting from the contrast between the two scenarios. This account of irony, which is complementary of the one developed in Relevance Theory, allows us to trace the origin of the speaker’s attitudinal component in an ironic utterance to the underlying cognitive activity involving the cancellation of echoed assumptions within an inferential reasoning schema.

Abstract

This chapter studies the role of the pragmatic notion of echo in creating ironic meaning. The notion of echo is treated as a cognitive operation rather than just a pragmatic task, which combines with other cognitive operations of at least two kinds: concept-building and inferential. The former operations include the creation of echoed and observed scenarios. The latter include the cancellation and addition of structure in an echoed scenario resulting from the contrast between the two scenarios. This account of irony, which is complementary of the one developed in Relevance Theory, allows us to trace the origin of the speaker’s attitudinal component in an ironic utterance to the underlying cognitive activity involving the cancellation of echoed assumptions within an inferential reasoning schema.

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.1.09dem

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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