Now available here: http://www.ua.es/dfing/personal/profs/yus-irony.htm
On reaching the intended ironic interpretation*
Francisco Yus
University of Alicante, Department of English Studies
Apartado 99. E-03080 Alicante (Spain)
International Journal of Communication 10 (1-2), 2001, pp. 27-78
Abstract
In the present article a criterion of optimal accessibility to irony is proposed from a cognitive
perspective (mainly relevance-theoretic). According to Sperber and Wilson's (1986, 1995) relevance
theory, for the identification of irony it is essential to find the echoic quality of the utterance and the
speaker's attitude of dissociation towards this utterance. This identification can be speeded up with
multiple activation of contextual sources. In a nutshell, according to this criterion, the fast, slow, or
nonexistent identification of the attitude of dissociation underlying irony depends on the number (and
quality) of incompatibilities detected by the addressee in multiple mental activations of the available
contextual sources.
Cordially,
F. Yus
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