Article published in:
Closeness and conflict: The discourse of domestic discord across English and Spanish-speaking communities
Edited by Diana Boxer and María Elena Placencia
[Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 6:2] 2018
► pp. 299–319

The role of verbal irony in conflict talk among relatives and friends in an Argentinian community

| Gustavus Adolphus College

This article shows the role of verbal irony in conflict talk among relatives and friends. Excerpts from ten naturally occurring multiparty conversations among relatives and friends were analyzed. The analysis shows that the introduction of verbal irony in the conversation by one of the participants can: (1) end the conflict between two other participants by switching the topic of the interaction; (2) extend the conflict; (3) fail to alter the trajectory of the conflict sequence because one of the participants does not acknowledge the irony; (4) defuse a dispute about an unpleasant topic for one or two of the participants; or (5) initiate a dispute among relatives and/or friends whose relationship is not a friendly one. The analysis in this article is qualitative rather than quantitative; the tendencies presented are not based on frequency.

Keywords: verbal irony, conflict talk, family and social domain, qualitative analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Data
    • 2.2Subjects
    • 2.3Identification of ironic instances
  • 3.Analysis
    • 3.1Verbal irony ends the conflict
    • 3.2Verbal irony extends the conflict
    • 3.3Irony fails to alter the conflict
    • 3.4Verbal irony defuses the conflict
    • 3.5Verbal irony initiates the conflict
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 November 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00014.kal
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