On English Verbal Irony.docx
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On English Verbal Irony.docx
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OnEnglishVerbalIrony
OntheEnglishVerbalIrony
曹道根
I.Introduction
MyparticularinterestinironywastriggeredbyanoversimplificationthatischaracteristicofalltheenergyexpendedathomebymanyastudentintheEnglishrhetoricfieldintryingtopresentuswithanadequateaccountoftheEnglishirony.Whilequiteafewoftheseendeavorsturnedoutbutamanifestationofacombinationofamoreorlessidiosyncratictaxonomyofironywiththefewmuch-too-repeated,hencetriteexamples,mostoftheendeavor-makerssavedthemselvestroubleenoughbyidentifyingandequatingtheEnglishironywiththeChineseironywithoutanysignificantdistinctionsmadebetweenthem.Consequently,weareverylikelytobebiasedtowardsthinkingofthetwoasoneandthesame,notwithstandingweareconfrontedwiththevariousChineseterminologies(eg.fanyu,fanfeng,jifeng,fengcietc.)bywhichtheChinesescholarschoosetocall“irony”.“TheEnglishironyandtheChineseironyaresimilartoeachotherintermsofeithertypeorfunctionoruse.Withrecoursetoanantitheticaluseoflexicalmeaning,bothofthemsaythecontraryofwhatonethinksorofwhatonewouldhaveone’sinterlocutorthink”.(胡曙中1992:
353)HoweverthetraditionalanalysisofEnglishironyasliterallysayingonethingandfigurativelymeaningtheoppositehaslongbeforebeenchallengedbymanyWesternscholars,andifthenotionofironyinEnglishwereofthatuniformity,theChineseironywouldconformtoitsEnglishcounterpartperfectlywellandallthetheoreticalcontentionsonironywouldhavemadenosenseatall.
J.A.Cuddon(1997),inhisDictionaryofLiteraryTerms,devotedmuchspacetoirony’shistoricalevolutionfromasimplerhetoricaltropetothepresentnotionofapromiscuouslycomplexcharacter,andtheconclusionhereachedis,“[b]utitseemstobetheessentialnatureofirony(theneedtousetheword‘seems’ratherthan‘itis’isaproductoftheinherentambiguousnessofthewholeconcept)thatiteludesdefinition.”(Cuddon,1997:
338).Yetinspiteofthedifficultythatalmosteveryresearcherofironywillcertainlyencounterinattemptingorbeingtemptedtodefineironyinsuchawaythatthedefinitionwouldencompassalltheinstancesofirony,andthatbyitironywouldbeclearlydistinguishedfromnon-irony,itisstillpossibletocharacterizebyoneofitsessentialsemanticfeatures,viz,semanticdiscrepancyorincongruity,asispointedoutbyCuddon:
“[h]owever,itseemsfairlyclearthatmostformsofironyinvolvetheperceptionorawarenessofadiscrepancyorincongruitybetweenwordsandtheirmeaning,orbetweenactionsandtheirresults,orbetweenappearanceandreality.Inallcases,theremaybeanelementoftheabsurdortheparadoxical.”(ibid.)ThissemanticdiscrepancyfeaturingtheEnglishironyevidentlydiffersfromthesemanticfeatureofbinaryoppositionintheChineseirony,theformerbeingamuchbroaderconceptthanthelatter.ItwouldbemoreaccurateandappropriatetoaddresstheChineseirony,beingafigureofspeech,astheEnglishantiphrasis,whichismoreinaccordwiththeChineseirony,meaningtheuseofawordoraphrasetoconveyanideaexactlyoppositetoitsrealsignificanceandbeingasubcategoryoftheEnglishirony.
AntiphrasesinEnglishformwhatmaybecalledstandardverbalirony,whichisregardedbymanyEnglishironyinvestigatorsasaprimitivetypeofirony,ironyinitssimplestandcrudestform.Asageneraltopic,however,irony“hasbeentackled[intheWest]byscholarsinfieldsasdiverseaslinguisticsandpoliticalscience,sociologyandhistory,aestheticsandreligion,philosophyandrhetoric,psychologyandanthropology.Ironyhasbeenlocatedandexplicatedinliterature,thevisualarts,music,dance,theatre,museumdisplays,conversation,philosophicalargumentation,andthelistcouldgoonandon.”(Hutcheon,1994:
1)“Ironyattendsuseverywhere---.Nomerefigureofspeech,ironyiscentraltoallthought,fortheuseoflanguageassuchisessentiallyironic.”(E.Gans,1997:
64)ThissharpawarenessintheWestofirony’subiquityhasgivenrisetomuchdiscussionandcontentiononironyfromavarietyofperspectives,andasaresult,thenotionofironyhasbeendevelopedthereintooneofmultiplicityanddiversity.InMuecke(1970:
18-36),wehaveasketchyaccountofthisdevelopment.IronybothinitsverbalformandinitssituationalformisspottedinsuchclassicalliteraryworksasOdysseyandBeowulf(ThatImentionedthesetwoepicsdoesnotnecessitatethepointthatitisintheseepicsthatironymadeitsdebut).Butitisatamuchlaterdate(atthedawnofthe18thcentury)thattheword“irony”cameintowideuse.Initially,ironywaschieflyseenandemployedasarhetoricaltrope(verbalirony).Buteversincetheendofthe18thcentury,variousaspectsofironyhavebeenclaimedandthenotionofironymuchexpanded:
situationalironywithdramaticironyandironyofeventsincluded;Socraticirony;generalironywithitsalternativenamesofWorldIrony,CosmicIrony,PhilosophicalIronyandIronyofFate;andromanticirony.Sotherehasoccurredquiteashiftovertimefromseeingironyasalimitedclassicalrhetoricaltropetotreatingitas“akeystoneofpoetics,aparadigmofcriticism,amodeofconsciousnessorexistencethatraisesquestionsabouttheselfandthenatureofknowledge,aphilosophicalstancevis-a-vistheuniverse,andinformingprincipleofpersonality,orawayoflife.”(Hutcheon,1994:
3)
Nevertheless,noneoftheseissuesbeyondthelinguisticfieldistobeundertakeninthisthesis,whoseaimsandfocusesaremuchmoremodest:
topresentacriticalreviewofsomeofthemajorlinguisticapproachestoverbalirony,ironyinverbaldiscourses(inliterarywritingaswellasincommonspeech),therebytopavethewayforapragmaticandcognitiveanalysisofhowandwhyironycomesabout.Whyshouldyouwanttousethisstrangemodeofdiscoursewhereyousaysomethingyoudon’tactuallymeanandexpectpeopletounderstandnotonlywhatyouactuallydomeanbutalsoyourattitudetowardsit?
Howdoyoudecideifanutteranceisironic?
Inotherwords,whattriggersyoutodecidethatwhatyouheard(orread)isnotmeaningfulalone,butrequiressupplementingwithadifferent,inferredmeaning(andjudgement)thatwouldthenleadyoutocallit“irony”?
ThesearethequestionstowhichIshallcomeoutwithsomelikelyanswers.
Ithasbeennotedthattherehavebeenfrequentdenialsofthepossibilityoftheorizingirony,aswillalsobedemonstratedinthenextsectionbecauseirony,invitingtopicasitlooks,hasprovedtobeanintricateandintractablebusinessindeed.Andadmiringthosewhohavenotbeentoomuchdauntedtotreadintothispotentialquagmire,Ialsorushintoittojointhem,wishingthattheeffortthatIshallexertherewouldnotbetotallyinvainandthelittlebitthatIshallcontributeherewouldbeworthwhile.
II.CommentontheTraditionalSemanticInversionTheoryofVerbalIrony
Irony,inWebster’sNewWorldDictionary,isexplicatedas“amethodofhumorousorsubtlysarcasticexpressioninwhichtheintendedmeaningofthewordsusedisthedirectoppositeoftheirusualsense.”AndQuintilianalsodefinesironyintermsofthefactthat“weunderstandsomethingwhichistheoppositeofwhatisactuallysaid”(Sperber&Wilson,1981:
Note2).Thusanironicalutteranceistraditionallythoughttobemeaningtheopposite.Anironicalremark“Whatlovelyweather”wouldhavethefigurativemeaning“Whatawfulweather”,andanironicalutterance“He’smyfinefriend”wouldfigurativelymean“He’snotmyfinefriend”.Obviouslythistraditionalaccountofironyispurelyfromasemanticperspective:
itisbasedontheideaofsemanticinversionorpropositionalnegation,asimpleantiphrasiswhichcanbeunderstoodbyastraightforwardmeaningsubstitution-asubstitutionofthereal,“ironical”meaningforthe“false”literalmeaning.Ofcourse,someironiescanbefittedintothissemantictheoryofirony.Butaradicallysimplifiedframework,itisfarfrombeinguniversallyapplicableandagreatmanyironicalcaseshavetobelocatedoutsideitsrange.Suchanutteranceas“Itseemstoberaining”madebysomeonecaughtinadownpourisasironictousas“Lovelyweather’saidinthesamesituation(thisissupposedtobeironicalunless,ofcourse,thespeakerhappenstoloverainyweather).Inthesamevein,ifyouspeakofafriendofyourswhohasrecentlydivulgedyourbusinesssecrettooneofyourbusinessopponentsnotas“afinefriend”,asisregularlysaidtobeironical,butas“trulynaughty”,theironicovertoneisnotintheleastmitigated.Yetineithercase,thespeaker,speakingwithreservation,deliberatelyplaysdownhisfrustrationoranger,andtheutterancedoesnotexpresstheoppositeofwhatthespeakerthinksbutconveysLESSthanwhatitisreallythecaseorwhatthespeakeractuallythinksitisthecase.This,inthetraditionalrhetorics,iscalled“understatement”,whichisnotuntrueintermsoflogicaltruthvalue.Accordingtothetheoryofscalarquantityimplicature,linguisticitemscapableofbeingarrangedintermsofinformativenessorsemanticstrengtharesaidtoformaHornscale.Thatis,theitemsonthesamescaleareinarelationshipofentailment:
sentencesusingthestrongonesentailthoseusingtheweakones.Thus“Allboyswenttotheparty”entails“Someoftheboyswenttotheparty”,thatis,thelatterwillalsobetrueiftheformeristrue.Inthesamevein,giventhatthespeakerandtheheareralreadyknowthat,inthefirstcase(i)itisnowrainingdogsandcatsandinthesecond(ii)thatfriendconcernedisknavish,thenit
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