反语的幽默属性和语用功能.docx

1、反语的幽默属性和语用功能摘要: 反语作为一种普遍使用的修辞格，引起了认知心理学家和语言学家的关注。反语研究的角度从传统的修辞学和美学转向了认知心理学和语用学的探究。本文首先从定义和分类上，对反语进行认知层面上的归纳总结。其次，基于语用学角度分析了反语与合作原则和礼貌原则的联系。反语违反合作原则主要体现在对质量准则的违反上。反语作为一种间接言语，成为礼貌的一种手段。反语原则独立于礼貌原则之外，是对礼貌原则的一大补充。此外，反语是言语幽默的一种表现形式。英汉反语的语用功能大致相似，但也存在不少差异。文中对此异同进行归纳总结，从而得知，反语的幽默属性是其基本属性，在其语用功能中也得到了很好的体现。关

2、键词”反语；语用功能；幽默；英汉反语Abstract: Verbal irony, as a widely used figure of speech, has received considerable attention from cognitive psychologists and linguists. The traditional study of verbal irony from rhetorical and aesthetical approaches has been shifted to current cognitive and pragmatic investigat

3、ion. In this paper, focus will be laid upon the humor feature of verbal irony from the perspective of pragmatics. First, through the comparison of different kinds of definitions of irony, a general idea about what is irony is established. Then, this paper examines the Cooperative Principle (CP for s

4、hort) of American linguist Grice which put forwards that irony acts as a violation of CP. Last but not the least, with the help of the comparison of the pragmatic functions of English irony and Chinese irony, the humor feature of verbal irony can be well displayed. In English, irony could be used to

5、 state ones negative attitude to something. It could be used as a means to satirize, an approach to politeness, an approach to humor. Chinese irony can be classified into five types from the perspective of pragmatic functions as follows: irony for commendation and derogation, irony for satire, irony

6、 for fun, irony for affection and irony for emphasis. The pragmatic functions of irony in both languages are similar. Key Words: verbal irony; pragmatic function; humor; English and Chinese ironies1. IntroductionIrony is a common linguistic phenomenon in verbal communication. Recent years have seen

7、a mushroom growth of distinctly angled theorizations in this orientation, which nevertheless exhibit strong complementarity. Traditionally, irony is treated as a figure of speech whose intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words uttered. The study of irony in this way belongs to

8、that of rhetoric. American linguist Grice takes irony as one of those figures of speech that flouts the Cooperative Principle (CP for short), especially the Maxim of Quality. Irony interpreted under this pragmatic model conveys the contradiction of what is literally said. Linguists Sperber and Wilso

9、n treat irony as an echoic mention while linguist Cuddon states that “At its simplest, verbal irony involves saying what one doesnt mean.” 1 In this paper, focus will be laid upon the humor feature of verbal irony from the perspective of pragmatics. First, through the comparison of different kinds o

10、f definitions of irony, a general idea about what is irony is established. Secondly, this paper examines Gricean Cooperative Principle which put forwards that irony acts as a violation of CP. Thirdly, with the help of Leechs idea of irony, the pragmatic function of irony could be better displayed. F

11、inally, the last point is about the pragmatic functions of both English irony and Chinese irony. In a word, irony is one way to produce humor in verbal communication.2. What is ironyIt is difficult to define the word of “irony” which could be understood in various ways. The expansion of its research

12、 area may be the direct cause of the diversity of the definition of irony. The following are some definitions of irony from dictionaries.2.1 Dictionary definitions of irony1) Expression of ones meaning by saying the direct opposite of ones thoughts in order to be emphatic, amusing, sarcastic, etc. 2

13、 Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary2) Use of words which are clearly opposite to ones meaning, usually either in order to be amusing or to show annoyance (e.g. by saying What charming behaviour when someone has been rude.) 3 Longman Dictionary of English Language &Culture (English-C

14、hinese)3) Irony is a literary technique that achieves the effect of saying one thing and meaning another through the use of humor or mild sarcasm. 4Websters New World Encyclopedia4) The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning. 5Webster English

15、Dictionary5) Irony is a figure of speech that achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite of their usual sense. This form of irony is called verbal irony, and differs from the stylistic device of dramatic irony. 6 English Rhetorical

16、 Options6) Definition of irony from Grolier International Dictionary:a). An expression or utterance marked by such a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning, for humorous or rhetorical effect.b). Incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs. 7 The above definitions, a

17、lthough explained by different experts from different angles, roughly display the nature of irony from both the form and function. Among these definitions, the basic meaning of irony could be found as “saying one thing but meaning another.” The best description of irony, say, the Grolier Internation

18、al Dictionary, takes both the form and function of irony into consideration and gives us a better picture. However, all of these definitions have some shortcomings. First, none of them provides an effective way to identify irony from non-irony. Second, they basically regard irony as a trope or a fig

19、ure of speech whose literal and connotative meanings are mutually opposed to each other. This traditional understanding has been under challenges by modern research.2.2 Classification of ironyThe classification of irony is presented in different ways by those who work on it. Booth identifies quite a

20、 number of types: tragic irony, comic irony, stable irony, unstable irony, dramatic irony, situational irony, verbal irony, rhetorical irony so on and so forth. Kreuz and Roberts distinguish four types of irony: Socratic irony, dramatic irony, irony of fate and verbal irony.8 In general, irony invol

21、ves a contradiction between appearance and reality. Irony results where there is a difference in point of view between a character and the narrator or reader. Traditionally, there are four major types of irony: verbal, dramatic, situational and comic.2.2.1 Verbal ironyVerbal irony refers to spoken w

22、ords only. Verbal irony occurs when a character says one thing, but suggests or intends the opposite. The contrast is between what the speaker says and what he actually means. For example, in Julius Caesar, Mark Antony repeats the words “ and Brutus is an honorable man” in the famous “Friends, Roman

23、s, Countrymen” speech.9 Mark Antonys meaning, however, is that Brutus is completely dishonorable because Brutus, Caesars best friend, joined the other conspirators and plunged a knife into Caesars chest.In this paper, the discussion is laid upon this type of irony, verbal irony.2.2.2 Dramatic ironyD

24、ramatic irony involves more than just spoken words. Dramatic irony occurs when the meaning intended by a characters words or actions is opposite of the true situation. The contrast is between what the character says, thinks, or does and the true situation. Further, the character cannot see or unders

25、tand the contrast, but the audience or reader can. For example, in Othello, dramatic irony occurs when Othello refers to Iago as “honest Iago”.10 Unknown to Othello, Iago is a villain who deceives him into thinking that Desdemona (Othellos wife) has been unfaithful. For this, Othello unjustly kills

26、his wife, believing the whole time in Iagos honesty.The difference in examples for verbal and dramatic irony: Antony calls Brutus “honorable” and knows he is not honorable, while Othello calls Iago “honest” and does not know of Iagos deceit.2.2.3 Situational ironySituational irony defies logical cau

27、se/ effect relationships and justifiable expectations. For example, if a greedy millionaire were to buy a lottery ticket and win additional millions, the irony would be situational because such a circumstance cannot be explained logically. Such a circumstance seems “unfair”. This sense of being “unf

28、air” or “unfortunate” is a trademark of situational irony. Because people cannot explain the unfairness, it causes them to question whether or not the word makes sense.2.2.4 Comic irony (or Irony of fate)Some irony goes beyond being unfair and is morally tragic. Such irony is often so severe that it

29、 causes people to question God and see the universe as hostile. For example, if an honest, hardworking, and generous person buys a lottery ticket and wins ten million dollars, only to die in an auto crash two days later, the irony would reach tragic proportions. When situational irony reaches this s

30、cale, it is often called comic irony or irony of fate. Such irony typically suggests that people are pawns to malicious forces.3. Irony and the Cooperative Principle 3.1 The Cooperative Principle“American philosopher H.P. Grice made an attempt to explain the course of natural conversation, in which

31、implied messages are frequently involved. His idea is that in making conversation, the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate; otherwise, it would not be possible for them to carry on the talk. This general principle is called the Cooperative Principle, abbreviated as CP. It goes as

32、follows:Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. The principle breaks down into particular maxims that summarize particular assumptions about conversation. Different pragamaticists propose different numbers of these maxims but as originally proposed by Grice, the Principle contained four sets of maxims:The maxims of quantitya). Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchang