The ironic operation: Revisiting the components of ironic meaning

Abstract

This paper sheds more light on the way in which irony functions at the semantics/pragmatics interface by teasing apart three components of the ironic operation: the vehicle, the input, and the output. Focusing on the logical relationship between the expressed and the intended meaning of the ironic utterance, several real instantiations of the phenomenon are discussed and it is demonstrated that the vehicle (i.e. the unit of meaning that is used in an ironic way, thus carrying the ironic intent) does not always coincide with the input (i.e. the unit of meaning on which irony operates). The input to the ironic operation is thus shown to be of three kinds: (a) part of the vehicle, (b) triggered by the vehicle, or (c) discourse-dependent. The final discussion highlights the advantages of viewing irony as an operation rather than an act of mention or dissociation from the content of the utterance.