The varieties of verbal irony: a new neo-Gricean taxonomy

Publication date: Available online 25 October 2019Source: LinguaAuthor(s): Arthur SullivanAbstractThis paper has two interconnected goals – one defensive and fairly conservative, the other more novel and enterprising. The first goal is to defend a broadly Gricean approach to verbal irony from the post-Gricean criticisms which have emerged in the intervening literature – i.e., all things considered, verbal irony is best viewed as one among many species of particularized conversational implicature. The subsequent goal is to work toward developing a significantly original theory of verbal irony, within this Gricean orientation, which aims to take into account and rectify some omissions in and shortcomings of Grice’s very brief published remarks on the topic.In section one I take up the two related tasks of giving an overview of some pertinent background history, and honing a working target when it comes to the question: What exactly is verbal irony? Section two then engages with what I take to be the most significant criticisms of Grice’s approach, from the post-Gricean literature. Finally, section three develops the contours of a positive account, charting an original neo-Gricean taxonomy of the varieties of verbal irony.

Source: Lingua - October 26, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research