The Risks and Rewards of Ironic Communication

This paper explores the risks and reward of ironic communication. We argue that irony can not be characterized simply as having positive or negative social impact, but can serve multiple communicative purposes, depending on the social context and aims of the conversational participants. Irony may either distance, or bond, speakers and listeners. Contrary to the standard view, understanding irony does not require that people analyze what speakers literally say before deriving their intended meanings. But interpreting irony may require listeners to recognize the second-order, metarepresentational beliefs of speakers. Finally, irony may be a special form of figurative language in the pleasures it affords speakers and listeners.