Verbal Irony as a Communicative Mode of Persuasion
Journal
International Journal of Applied Language studies and culture
Date Issued
2018-10
Author(s)
Neshkovska, Silvana
Abstract
The general pervasiveness of politics in modern society renders political discourse susceptible to
analysis by many different profiles of researchers, especially linguists. This particular paper attempts to shed light on the usage of verbal irony in political discourse. The premise we put forward here is that politicians in their political speeches purposefully employ irony in
order to enhance the persuasiveness of their speech. Moreover, we believe that the enhancement of
persuasiveness is in a direct correlation with the pragmatic functions of verbal irony. To put it
differently, 'seasoning' political speeches with ironic statements which evoke either humor; or express mild ridicule, or harsh criticism at the expense of the political opponent, is what makes them truly persuasive.
The corpus compiled for the purposes of this research comprises political speeches delivered by
American politicians in the course of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. The results obtained primarily confirm the relatively high incidence of verbal irony in political speeches; then, they also point to the relatively high degree of persuasion attached to irony in general and its association mainly with expressing mild ridicule and harsh criticism.
analysis by many different profiles of researchers, especially linguists. This particular paper attempts to shed light on the usage of verbal irony in political discourse. The premise we put forward here is that politicians in their political speeches purposefully employ irony in
order to enhance the persuasiveness of their speech. Moreover, we believe that the enhancement of
persuasiveness is in a direct correlation with the pragmatic functions of verbal irony. To put it
differently, 'seasoning' political speeches with ironic statements which evoke either humor; or express mild ridicule, or harsh criticism at the expense of the political opponent, is what makes them truly persuasive.
The corpus compiled for the purposes of this research comprises political speeches delivered by
American politicians in the course of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. The results obtained primarily confirm the relatively high incidence of verbal irony in political speeches; then, they also point to the relatively high degree of persuasion attached to irony in general and its association mainly with expressing mild ridicule and harsh criticism.
Subjects
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
Verbal Irony as a Communicative Mode of Persuasion, paper.pdf
Size
213.33 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):bdbda682bb15edc3c270726e586c9383