Chapter One A general description of irony 1
1.1 My understanding of irony 1
1.2 Pragmatic classification of irony 11
1.3 Pragma-linguistic forms to realize irony 13
1.4 Pragmatic strategies in ironic communication 14
1.5 Pragmatic forces of irony 15
1.5.1 Making criticism 15
1.5.2 Showing power 15
1.5.3 Saving face 17
1.5.4 Amusing 18
1.6 General framework of the study:scope,methodology and objectives 22
1.7 The use of the terms"speaker/hearer"and other Synonymous terms 24
Chapter two Previous accounts of irony:A review 26
2.1 Traditional semantic definition of irony 26
2.2 Logical refinement of irony definition 28
2.3 Grice's pragmatic refinement of irony description 31
2.4 Post-Gricean refinement of irony description 34
2.4.1 The echoic mention theory of irony 34
2.4.2 The pretense theory of irony 36
2.4.3 Resemblances and differences between the mention and pretense theories 38
2.5 Concluding remarks on the previous accounts of irony 39
Chapter Three Properties of ironic utterance 44
3.1 Properties embedded in ironic utterance 45
3.1.1 Indeterminacy and vagueness of ironical implications 45
3.1.2 Plurality of ironic interpretation 47
3.1.3 Extendibility of ironical implication 50
3.2 Pragma-psychological properties of ironic communication 53
3.2.1 Pragma-psychological context constituting irony 53
3.2.2 Pragma-psychological implication of an ironist's utterance 54
Chapter Four Mutuality:the precondition for ironic communication and cognition 58
4.1 Elements constituting mutuality 59
4.2 Necessity of mutuality in ironic communication 61
4.3 Possibility of establishing mutuality in ironic communication 69
4.3.1 Cues indicating mutuality 69
4.3.2 Mutuality decision criterion in ironic communication 73
4.4 Summary of Chapters Three and Four 77
Chapter Five Perception of counter-expectational mismatch as irony triggering 79
5.1 The echoism hypothesis——irony as echoic interpretation 80
5.2 The pretense hypothesis——irony as pretense 87
5.3 An alternative hypothesis——irony as counter-expectational mismatch 91
Chapter Six Irony:Misapplication of a critical evaluation 97
6.1 Irony as a critical evaluation 97
6.2 Irony as misapplication of a critical evaluation 100
6.3 Summary of Part Three(Chapters Five and Six) 106
Chapter Seven Irony cognition and its principle 111
7.1 The principle of irony cognition 111
7.2 Recognition of ironic implicatures 121
7.3 Recognition of ironic impression and attitude 127
7.4 A brief summary of Chapter Seven 130
Chapter Eight Irony understanding:Looking back and forward 131
Notes 135
Appendix 142
Bibliography 153