The constructional dimension of verbal irony. A cognitive-linguistic perspective
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Abstract
The constructional dimension of verbal irony has been noted by Veale and Hao (2010) and Veale (2012), who conclude that ironic interpretation may be triggered by conventionalized constructions bearing a high ironic potential, such as about as X as Y (about as useful as buying one shoe) or You could not X even if Y (You couldn’t have me even if you had all the wealth in the world). In inferential pragmatics, Attardo (2000) identified indices of irony (e.g., Yeah, right, of course), which are often used to convey or support irony. The present article further argues that such indices can be studied from a constructional perspective together with other linguistic resources that have the ability to increase the ironic potential of a constructional strategy. Among them we find cumulative echoes (Yeah, sure, John. Paul is the nicest guy ever; he is everyone’s buddy; definitely our main man), or echoic compounding (Right, I sleep siesta while you do all the work, as usual). This article explores the role of these and other strategies in the production of constructions that differ in their irony-carrying potential. The resulting study allows us to contrast these constructions in terms of such potential and to examine the formal and conceptual mechanisms in operation.
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Funding data
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Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Grant numbers PID2020-118349GB-I00
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