Defaultness Reigns: The Case of Sarcasm

Abstract

Findings from two experiments (run in Hebrew) argue in favor of the superiority of default, preferred interpretations over non-default less favored counterparts, outshining degree of (a) non-salience, (b) non-literalness, (c) contextual strength, and (d) negation. They show that, outside of a specific context, the default interpretation of specific negative constructions (He is not the most organized student) is a non-salient interpretation (here sarcastic)11 Sarcasm pertains here to verbal irony.; their non-default interpretation is a salience-based alternative (here literal). In contrast, the default interpretation of the affirmative counterparts (He is the most organized student) is a salience-based interpretation (here literal); their non-default interpretation is a non-salient alternative (here sarcastic; Experiment 1). When in equally strongly supportive contexts, default yet non-salient negative sarcasm is processed faster than (1) non-default, non-salient yet affirmative sarcasm and (2) faster than non-default yet salience-based negative literalness. Complementarily, default, salience-based affirmative literalness is derived faster than (1) non-default non-salient affirmative sarcasm, and (2) faster than non-default albeit salience-based negative literalness (Experiment 2). This unparalleled quadrilateral pattern of comparisons speaks to the superiority of defaultness.