Salting a wound or sugaring a pill: The pragmatic functions of ironic criticism

被引:103
作者
Colston, HL
机构
[1] Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
关键词
D O I
10.1080/01638539709544980
中图分类号
G44 [教育心理学];
学科分类号
0402 ; 040202 ;
摘要
Recent investigations of the pragmatic functions of ironic criticism (e.g., saying ''Nice shot'' to condemn a fellow player for missing a free throw and losing a basketball game) have argued that ironic criticism is used to dilute condemnation. Dews and Winner (1995) and Dews, Kaplan, and Winner (1995) showed that, relative to literal criticism (e.g., ''Terrible shot''), ironic criticism expresses less condemnation. This article reports the results of four experiments to show that ironic criticism in many cases is used for just the opposite reason-to enhance rather than to dilute condemnation. These findings have significant implications for both pragmatic and processing theories of verbal irony.
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页码:25 / 45
页数:21
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