On Stylistics and Text Interpretation

This controversy is parodied in the Futurama episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", in which Bender repeatedly corrects people who use the term ironic incorrectly.

Irony often requires a cultural backdrop to be understood or noticed, and as with any culture-specific idiom, irony often cannot be perfectly transplanted. An expression with a secondary meaning clear to an east-coast American may be obscure to a Canadian, Briton, Australian, or even a west-coast American, though they all speak the same language. Attempting a literal translation of an ironic idiom to another language often renders the concept muddled or incoherent. Further, the use of verbal irony may also rely on non-literal cues such as tone of voice or posture. Every culture incorporates its own form of linguistic metaphor, idiom and subtlety. In such cases, translation requires extra care of irony, and perhaps explanation.[citations needed]

III. CONCLUSION

Irony is such a case of interaction between logical and contextual meanings when contextual meaning of the word becomes the opposite of its logical meaning. Thus irony is a stylistic device based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings - dictionary and contextual, but these two meanings stand in opposition to each other. E.g.:

"How nice to cheat your own mother".

The dictionary meaning of the word "nice" is opposite of the contextual meaning ugly, bad". Another example:

"It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket".

The contextual meaning of the word "delightful" is opposite to primary dictionary meaning that is "unpleasant".

The word containing the irony is strongly marked by intonation. It has an emphatic stress and is supplied with a special melody. In a sentence like "How clever of you!" where, due to the intonation, the word "clever" conveys a sense opposite to its literal signification.

When the above cases of use of the language units acquire generalized status, they become a stylistic device. When used too often a stylistic device may become irite, then it stops being stylistic device.

In most cases the sentence suffices to make irony clear, as in the examples above. In certain cases a much wider context is needed to understand that the word is used ironically and to perceive its stylistic effect.

Irony may be expressed by any part of speech, most often by a noun, adjective, adverb.

Irony must not be confused with humour, although they have very much in common. Humour always causes laughter. In this respect irony can be likened to humour. But the function of irony is not to produce a humorous effect only. In some cases the irony expresses a feeling of irritation, displeasure, pity or regret.

Richard Altin says, "The effect of irony lies in the striking disparity between what is said and what is meant". This "striking disparity" is achieved through the intentional interplay of the two meanings, which are in opposition to each other:

Stoney smiled the sweet smile of an alligator.1 (Steinbeck)

A word used ironically may sometimes express very subtle, almost imperceptible nuances of meaning:

1.   I like a parliamentary debate, Particularly when "tis not too late. (Byron).

2.   I like the taxes, when they're not too many. (Byron).

In the first line that word like gives only a slight hint of irony. Parliamentary debates are usually long. The word debate itself suggests a long discussion. A hint of the interplay between positive and negative begins with like.

The second use of the word like is definitely ironical. No one would be expected to like taxes. It is so obvious that no context is necessary to decode the true meaning of like. The attribute phrase "when they're not too many" strengthens the irony.

Irony is generally used to convey a negative meaning. Therefore only positive concepts are used to convey a negative meaning. The contextual meaning always conveys the negation of the positive concepts embodies in the dictionary meaning.

In oral speech the main role in recognition of irony belongs to intonation. Sometimes it is only the situation that can prompt the use of irony. To mark out ironically used words in written language such graphic means as inverted commas and italicized words aie used.

The effect of irony largely depends on the unexpectedness and seeming lack of logic of a word used by the author in an incompatible context. The render is fully aware of the contrast between what is logically expected and what is said. This contrast, this interaction of the contextual and logical meanings of the word often produces a humorous effect.

Irony may be used to achieve an effect of bitter mockery and sarcasm as well, especially when it concerns some social phenomena.

Sometimes irony is mixed up with sarcasm. Sarcasm is a bitter or wounding remark, especially ironically worded. Usually socially or politically aimed irony is also called sarcasm.

 

IV. Bibliography

1. Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка», «Просвещение» 1981 г.
2. Жирмунский В.М. «Введение в метрику», 1925 г.
3. Пастернак Б. «Литературная Москва», 1956 г.
4. Скребнёв Ю.М. «Основы стилистики английского языка», «Высшая школа», 1994 г.
5. Чуковский К.В. «Высокое искусство», 1998 г.
6. Baldick, Chris «Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms», 1996
7. Bloomfield L. «Language. NY», 1961
8. Chatman, Seymor «Stylistics: Qualitive and quantative», 1967
9. Delaney D., Ward G., Fiorina C.R. «Fields of Vision: English Literature in English», «Longman», 2009
10. Fonagy I. «Communication in Poetry», 1961
11. Galperin I.R. «Stylistics» «Moscow Higher School», 1977
12. Jakobson R. «Linguistics and Poetry. Style in Language.», 1929
13. Leontyeva S.F. «A Theoretical Course of English Phonetics», 2004
14. Soshalskaya E.G., Prokhorova V.L. «Stylistic Analysis», «Moscow Higher School», 1976
15. Webster’s New World Dictionary, 2009

 

 

1 Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка», «Просвещение» 1981 г.

2 Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка», «Просвещение» 1981 г.

3 Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка», «Просвещение» 1981 г.

4 Арнольд И.В. «Стилистика современного английского языка», «Просвещение» 1981 г.

1 Preface to critical reading. N. -Y., 1956, p. 270