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Irony in Language Use and Communication
Edited by Angeliki Athanasiadou and Herbert L. Colston
[Figurative Thought and Language 1] 2017
► pp. 19–42

Chapter 1
Irony performance and perception

What underlies verbal, situational and other ironies?

Differing notions of things labeled as “irony”, and issues concerning their relative unity versus disunity are discussed. Accounts of verbal and situational irony in particular are considered as sharing the oft-mentioned but rarely agreed-upon form of contradiction that seems to potentially underlie all types of irony. This notion of contradiction is widened under the newly introduced umbrella term, “conjoined antonymy”, whereby contra-indicatedness is enhanced by the blatant and undeniable juxtaposition of the contradicting portions in ironic structures. Future directions for research exploring the variety if ironies and their commonality (and nuanced differences) are also proposed.
Keywords: irony, situational irony, verbal irony, contradiction, conjoined antonymy, opposition
Article outline
  • What makes irony?
  • Past accounts of verbal and situational irony
  • Taking stock and looking ahead
  • On the nature of irony underpinnings
  • Future directions for irony research
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.1.02col
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2017. Chapter 10. Defaultness shines while affirmation pales. In Irony in Language Use and Communication [Figurative Thought and Language, 1], ► pp. 219 ff. DOI logo
Willison, Robert
2017. Chapter 3. In defense of an ecumenical approach to irony. In Irony in Language Use and Communication [Figurative Thought and Language, 1], ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. The Multimodal Performance of Conversational Humor [Figurative Thought and Language, 13], DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. Irony, Affect, and Related Figures. In The Cambridge Handbook of Irony and Thought, ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo

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