Modal particles in ironic utterances: A common-ground approach to pretended surprise in verbal irony
HoldenHärtl and Jana-MariaThimm
Universität Kassel
Abstract
This study contributes to theorizing about the semantic characteristics of verbal irony. Specifically, we
investigate the function of the modal particles ja (lit. ‘yes’) and aber (lit. ‘but’) that often
occur in ironic utterances in German, cf. Das war aber ein aufregender Film (‘That was prt a thrilling
movie’). Our main claim is that modal particles are used in ironic utterances to reflect the speaker’s intention to pretend
surprise and produce a mockery effect by manifesting the utterance as an echo. Modal particles require some mutual knowledge to be
contained in the common ground, and we link this notion to the interplay between echoic mention and pretense in interpreting an
utterance as ironic. In an empirical approach to our claim, we report on results from an online questionnaire study, in which we
test whether the presence of a modal particle leads to a higher perception of pretense in ironic reactions. While the data
generally confirm our prediction, we found that only aber affects pretense perception but not
ja, which can be explained by the former’s contrastive nature. The view we pursue implies that attitudinal
content is a graded feature and that such a notion is applicable to surprise and pretense involved in verbal irony.
An ironic utterance articulates an assertion that denotes an alternative to the expression’s literal meaning. Consider the
example in (1) from German, uttered ironically.
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