Abstract

According to the "neicoic model", proposed here, irony, as "quotation" (or "mention"), consists of an interactive script, grounded on the focal event "trigger", in which the dialogic comment shows the ironist's intention through the antiphrastic process and syncoding to "hit" the victim of the irony (blame by praise or praise by blame). Through the acoustic analysis of the suprasegmental profiles of standard phrases inserted into inductors expressly composed and read by 50 naive subjects, the presence and the nature of significant differences between sarcastic and kind irony in low- and high-context utterances ("contextualization effect"; experiments 1 and 2) have been verified. It has also been observed that, where more "specific weight" is given to the linguistic stream ("corrective irony" hypothesis), a markedness of suprasegmental features emerges ("correctivity effect"; experiment 3). Lastly, from the comparison between sarcastic irony and blame, and between kind irony and praise, there exists a precise manner of "contrastive syncoding", whereby the voices of irony do not coincide with those of direct blame or praise, but assume a specific caricature and emphatic profile ("contrastivity effect"; experiment 4). The ironic comment, although clear without being explicit, can at the same time enjoy the effectiveness of the word and the benefits of the silence in the management of social relationships.