Article published in:
Interpersonal Argumentation
Edited by Harry Weger, Jr
[Journal of Argumentation in Context 4:1] 2015
► pp. 87–109

Irony in interpersonal conflict scenarios

Differences in ironic argument endorsement and suppression across topics

| Western Illinois University, USA
The uses of indirect argument strategies, such as irony, remain understudied. This study examined a variety of ironic arguments and the production and suppression rather than reception of those arguments. Hyperbole, understatement, rhetorical question, jocularity, and sarcasm were examined in close versus distant relationships. Findings point to a tendency to use more negative arguments in closer relationships than those that are more casual. In sum, we are more likely to be negative in closer relationships despite what our typical behavior would indicate.
Keywords: Sarcasm, Argument, Irony, Message Design
Published online: 08 June 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.4.1.05ave
References
Averbeck, Joshua M
2013 “Comparisons of Ironic and Sarcastic Arguments in Terms of Appropriateness and Effectiveness in Personal Relationships.” Argumentation and Advocacy 501: 47–57. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 “Irony and Language Expectancy Theory: Evaluations of Expectancy Violation Outcomes.” Communication Studies 611: 356–72. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Averbeck, Joshua M., and Dale Hample
2008 “Ironic Message Production: How and Why we Produce Ironic Messages.” Communication Monographs 751: 396–410. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brockriede, Wayne
1975 “Where is Argument?” Journal of the American Forensics Association 111: 179–82.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson
1978 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Buller, David B., and Judee K. Burgoon
2006 “Interpersonal Deception Theory.” Communication Theory 61: 203–242. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Burgoon, Judee K
1993 “Interpersonal Expectations, Expectancy Violations, and Emotional Communication.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 121: 30–48. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Burgoon, Michael
1990 “Language and Social Influence.” In Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, ed. by Howard Giles and W. Peter Robinson, 51–72. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Canary, Daniel J., and Brian H. Spitzberg
1987 “Appropriateness and Effectiveness Perceptions of Conflict Strategies.” Human Communication Research 141: 93–118. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chesser, Chris, Irby Smith, and David S. Ward
1989 Major League [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.Google Scholar
Clark, Herbert H
1996 Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Ruth A., and Jesse G. Delia
1979 “TOPOI and Rhetorical Competence.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 651: 187–206. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cody, Michael J., Daniel J. Canary, and Sandi W. Smith
1994 “Compliance-gaining Goals: An Inductive Analysis of Actors’ Goal Types, Strategies, and Successes.” In Strategic Interpersonal Communication, ed. by John A. Daly and John M. Wiemann, 33–90. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.Google Scholar
Colston, Herbert L
1997 “Salting a Wound or Sugaring a Pill: The Pragmatic Functions of Ironic Criticism.” Discourse Processes 231: 25–45. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Daly, John A., David J. Weber, Anita L. Vangelisti, Madeline Maxwell, and Heather Neel
1989 “Concurrent Cognitions During Conversations: Protocol Analysis as a Means of Exploring Conversations.” Discourse Processes 121: 227–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dews, Shelly, Joan Kaplan, and Ellen Winner
1995 “Why Not Say it Directly? The Social Functions of Irony.” Discourse Processes 191: 347–67. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dews, Shelly, and Ellen Winner
1995 “Muting the Meaning: A Social Function of Irony.” Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 101: 3–19. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dillard, James Price, Chris Segrin, and Janie M. Harden
1989 “Primary and Secondary Goals in the Production of Interpersonal Influence Messages.” Communication Monographs 561: 19–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ettema, James S., and Theodore L. Glasser
2004 “The Irony in-and of-Journalism: A Case Study in the Moral Language of Liberal Democracy.” Journal of Communication 441: 5–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fitzgerald, Courtney
2013 A Qualitative Analysis of Irony as Humor in Japanese Conversation. Master’s thesis, Tohoku University.
Gibbs, Raymond W. Jr
1986 “On the Psycholinguistics of Sarcasm.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 1151: 3–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2000 “Irony in Talk Among Friends.” Metaphor and Symbol 151: 5–27. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hample, Dale
2000 “Cognitive Editing of Arguments and Reasons for Requests: Evidence from Think-Aloud Protocols.” Argumentation and Advocacy 371: 98–108. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hample, Dale, and Judith M. Dallinger
1987a “Cognitive Editing of Argument Strategies.” Human Communication Research 141: 123–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1987b “Self-Monitoring and the Cognitive Editing of Arguments.” Central States Speech Journal 381: 152–65. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1992 “The Use of Multiple Goals in Cognitive Editing of Arguments.” Argumentation and Advocacy 281: 109–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2002 “The Effects of Situation on the Use or Suppression of Possible Compliance Gaining Appeals.” In Interpersonal Communication: Advances Through Meta-Analysis, ed. by Mike Allen, Raymond W. Preiss, Barbara M. Gayle, and Nancy Burrell, 187–209. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hample, Dale, Benjamin Warner, and Holly Norton
2006 “The Effects of Arguing Expectations and Predispositions on Perceptions of Argument Quality and Playfulness.” Argumentation and Advocacy 431: 1–13. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hample, Dale, Benjamin Warner, and Dorian Young
2006 “Framing and Editing Interpersonal Arguments.” Paper presented at the meeting of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation , Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 2006.
Holtgraves, Thomas
1997 “Styles of Language Use: Individual and Cultural Variability in Conversational Indirectness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 731: 624–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hopper, Robert
1981 “The Taken-For-Granted.” Human Communication Research 71: 195–211. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Amy Janan
2003 “Argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness: Type of argument as a situational constraint.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association , San Diego, CA, May 2003.
Johnson, Amy Janan, Joshua M. Averbeck, Katherine M. Kelley, and Shr-Jie Liu
2011 “When Serial Arguments Predict Harm: Examining the Influences of Argument Function, Perceived Resolvability, and Argumentativeness.” Argumentation and Advocacy 471: 214–27. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Karsetter, Allan B
1964 “Toward a Theory of Rhetorical Irony.” Speech Monographs 311: 162–78. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Katz, Albert N., and Christopher J. Lee
1993 “The Role of Authorial Intent in Determining Verbal Irony and Metaphor.” Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 81: 257–79. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kaufer, David S
1981 “Ironic Evaluations.” Communication Monographs 481: 25–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kaufer, David S., and Christine M. Neuwirth
1982 “Foregrounding Norms and Ironic Communication.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 681: 28–36. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lampert, Martin D., and Susan M. Ervin-Tripp
2006 “Risky Laughter: Teasing and Self-Directed Joking among Male and Female Friends.” Journal of Pragmatics 381: 51–72. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Leggitt, John S., and Raymond W. Gibbs
2000 “Emotional Reactions to Verbal Irony.” Discourse Processes 291: 1–24. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Muecke, Douglas C
1969 The Compass of Irony. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Nofsinger, Robert E
1991 Everyday Conversation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
O’Keefe, Daniel. J
2002 “The Persuasive Effects of Variation in Standpoint Articulation.” In Advances in Pragma-Dialectics, ed. by Frans H. Van Eemeren, 65–82. Newport News, VA: Vale Press.Google Scholar
Sabourin, Teresa C., Dominic A. Infante, and Jill Rudd
1993 “Verbal Aggressiveness in Marriages: A Comparison of Violent, Distressed but Nonviolent, and Nondistressed Couples.” Human Communication Research 201: 245–67. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Spitzberg, Brian H., and William R. Cupach
1984 Interpersonal Communication Competence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Akimoto, Yoritaka & Shiho Miyazawa
2017. Individual Differences in Irony Use Depend on Context. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 36:6 ► pp. 675 ff. Crossref logo
Burgers, Christian, Britta C. Brugman, Kiki Y. Renardel de Lavalette & Gerard J. Steen
2016. HIP: A Method for Linguistic Hyperbole Identification in Discourse. Metaphor and Symbol 31:3 ► pp. 163 ff. Crossref logo
Burgers, Christian, Elly A. Konijn & Gerard J. Steen
2016. Figurative Framing: Shaping Public Discourse Through Metaphor, Hyperbole, and Irony. Communication Theory 26:4 ► pp. 410 ff. Crossref logo
Caffarra, Sendy, Arman Motamed Haeri, Elissa Michell & Clara D. Martin
2019.  When is irony influenced by communicative constraints? ERP evidence supporting interactive models . European Journal of Neuroscience 50:10 ► pp. 3566 ff. Crossref logo
Ervas, Francesca
2020.  In Producing Figurative Expression [Figurative Thought and Language, 10], ► pp. 175 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.