Publications

Publication details [#12902]

De Saussure , Louis. 2009. Subjectivity out of irony. Semiótica 2009 (173) : 397–416. 20 pp. URL
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English

Abstract

This paper investigates the link between irony and convention, aiming to support the idea that ironic utterances are such “either because they depart from a certain linguistic convention (such as ‘say what you believe is true’), either by intentional flows upon the expected properly applied convention or by misapplying certain convention”. In this respect, as far as irony is concerned, subjectivity should be understood as a form of self-awareness, reflected upon ironic utterances and revealing the speaker’s attitude towards an individual and not towards a proposition. The authors, thus, claim that what is central to irony is the presence of an implicit propositional attitude of disagreement, communicating that the speaker thinks that, in such a context, this particular sentence would be ridiculous if uttered sincerely.