Means of realization of irony

     One classic example of verbal irony is a speaker saying, “What lovely weather we are having!” as she looks out at a rainstorm intending to express her dissatisfaction with the weather. However, there are examples of verbal irony that do not rely on saying the opposite of what one means, and there are cases where all the traditional criteria of irony exist and the utterance is not ironic.

     Verbal irony is distinguished from related phenomena such as situational irony and dramatic irony in that it is produced intentionally by speakers. This distinction gets at an important aspect of verbal irony: speakers communicate implied propositions that are intentionally contradictory to the propositions contained in the words themselves.

     Situational irony occurs when the results of a situation are far different from what was expected. This results in a feeling of surprise and unfairness due to the odd situation.

     Examples:

     - A situation immortalized in O. Henry's story “The Gift of the Magi”, in which a young couple is too poor to buy each other Christmas gifts. The man finally pawns his heirloom pocket watch to buy his wife a set of combs for her long, prized, beautiful hair. She, meantime, cuts her hair to sell to a wigmaker for money to buy her husband a watch-chain. The irony is twofold: the couple, having parted with their tangible valuables, is caused by the act to discover the richness of the intangible.

     - A man goes over a giant waterfall e.g. Niagara Falls in a barrel and survives, only to take a cleanup shower where he slips on the soap and dies from trauma and drowning.

     - An ambulance runs over someone [4].

     Some linguists refer to situational irony also irony of fate, or cosmic irony.

The expression “irony of fate” stems from the notion that the gods (or the Fates) are amusing themselves by toying with the minds of mortals, with deliberate ironic intent. Closely connected with cosmic irony, it arises from sharp contrasts between reality and human ideals, or between human intentions and actual results. Minor examples are daily life situations such as the rain that sets in immediately after one finishes watering one’s garden, following many days of putting off watering in anticipation of rain. Sharper examples can include situations in which the consequences are more dramatic.

     For example:

     - Years before his death, at the age of 23, basketball star "Pistol" Pete Maravich told a Pennsylvania reporter, "I don't want to play 10 years in the NBA and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40." In 1988 he collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 40, after playing 10 NBA seasons.

     - In fiction a typical use of irony of fate occurs in the climax of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

     Frollo, the villain, stands upon a gargoyle. He raises his sword to strike Esmeralda, and says, “And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!” At that moment, the gargoyle breaks off, sending Frollo falling to his death into the courtyard, filled with molten lead that Quasimodo had spilled to stop the oncoming guards. The irony is that Frollo’s line is used in reference to Esmeralda, but instead it winds up applying to Frollo himself as he plunges into the fiery pit of molten lead.

     Cosmic irony through time is also called historical irony. When history is seen through modern eyes, it sometimes happens that there is an especially sharp contrast between the way historical figures see their world and the probable future of their world, and what actually transpired. When the World War which began the 20^th century was called The War to End All Wars, this later became an example of historical irony. Historical irony is therefore a subset of cosmic irony, but one in which the element of time is bound up. Examples:

     Contrasting statements were made at the dawn of computers, which were initially thought to be devices never capable of use outside a government or academic setting.

     Historical irony is often encapsulated into statement:

     "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Nearly the last words of American Civil War General John Sedgwick. 

     In response to Mrs. Connally's comment, "Mr. President, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you." John F. Kennedy uttered his last words, "That's very obvious" [4].

     If this kind of situational irony or irony of fate becomes an axis of a plot in a drama it is called dramatic irony [Zaleçki, 1984, 27].

     Dramatic irony is also called tragic irony.

     In tragedy, what is called "tragic irony" becomes a device for heightening the intensity of a dramatic situation. Tragic irony particularly characterized the drama of ancient Greece, owing to the familiarity of the spectators with the legends on which so many of the plays were based. In this form of irony, the words and actions of the characters belie the real situation, which the spectators fully realize. It may take several forms: the character speaking may realize the irony of his words while the rest of the characters may not; or he or she may be unconscious while the other actors share the knowledge with the spectators; or the spectators may alone realize the irony. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex provides a classic example of tragic irony at its fullest and finest.

     Another famous case of tragic irony occurs in the William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet” when Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged death-like sleep; he assumes her to be dead and kills himself. Upon awakening to find her dead lover beside her, Juliet kills herself with his knife. Also the play “Richard III” is full of dramatic irony, many of the lines Richard says are the complete antithesis of what he and the audience know he is thinking.

     They also distinguish comic irony. Layers of comic irony pervade (as an example) Jane Austen’s novels. The first sentence of “Pride and Prejudice” famously opens with a nearly mathematical postulate. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The scene that follows immediately betrays the proposal. “No, a rich young man moving into the neighborhood did not come to seek a wife.” In fact, it soon becomes clear that Austen means the opposite: women (or their mothers) are always in search of, and desperately on the lookout for, a rich single man to make a husband. The irony deepens as the story promotes his romance and ends in a double wedding.

     Comic irony from television sketch-comedy has the distinction over literary comic irony in that it often incorporates elements of absurdity [4].

     Pospelov G.N. suggests distinguishing between irony as a philosophical category of romantic aesthetics and irony as a trope [Поспелов, 1983, 183].

     According to Y.M. Screbnev there are at least two kinds of irony.

     The first represents utterances the ironical sense of which is evident to any native speaker-utterances that can have only an ironical message; no one would ever take them at their face value. The peculiar word-order and stereotyped words make up set phrases implying just the opposite of what they seem to manifest. By some authors this kind of irony is called antiphrasis.

     A few examples: That’s a pretty kettle of fish! A fine friend you are!

     The reader will agree that the utterances adduced can only be used in an unfavourable (never in a favourable) sense.

     To the second variety we can refer the overwhelming majority of utterances which can be understood either literally, or ironically, especially when we deal with written texts. Thus we cannot say if the speaker is serious or ironical when he says:

    But of course we know, his a rich man, a millionaire [Скребнев, 1975, 116].

     Y.V. Ryibnikova states that in modern linguistics it is the most common to distinguish between two types of irony – irony as a stylistic device and irony as a textual category. In researchers’ works they are called differently.

S.I. Pohodnya calls them situational and associative irony [1].

      Josef Zaleçki, making a work of the classification problem, formed the opinion that if situational irony can be introduced by the phrase "It is ironic that ... ", verbal irony requires an introductory paraphrase in the form "He is being ironic when he says that ..." [Zaleçki, 1984, 27]. This distinction helps D. Muecke to find a principle of irony typology.

     D. Muecke distinguishes in irony three modes and four grades. The modes or ways of being ironical, range from overt irony through covert irony to private irony, the difference between them being in the amount of evidence the reader or listener is provided within the utterance itself or in the context that gives him a hint at detecting the discrepancy between the literal and intended meaning of the speaker.

     The other typology is lodged within the ironist's attitude towards his ironical utterance and it may range from purely impersonal, objective statement, through self-disparaging irony and ingénue irony to dramatized irony in which the ironist's engagement into the ironic situation comes last on the scale of commitment .

     In most types of verbal irony distinguished by literary criticism one can point out the following formal elements:

     - double-levelledness,

     - opposition,

     - correctiveness/victimizing over the target of irony.

     Irony is a double-layered or two-storey phenomenon: at the lower level there is the situation as it appears to the “victim” of irony, or as it is deceptively presented by the ironist; at the upper level it is the situation as it appears to the observer or the ironist, generally, to the intelligent listener who is in the know of the intended meaning.

    In irony there is always some kind of opposition between the two levels. It is not necessary for irony to be marked with a direct apposition. Many ironic uses are signalled through subtle or implied or presupposed incompatibilities that occur on the line between what is said and what is ostensibly the case.

     There is also in irony an element of "victimizing" over the victim who is confidently unaware of the very possibility of there being an upper level or point of view [Muecke, 1969, 19-20].

     Irony can also be broken up into types according to the volume of context thus employed.

     The classification of context is the following:

     - microcontext – within the sentence;

     - macrocontext – within the paragraph;

     - megacontext (thematic context) – out of the paragraph [Колшанский, 1980, 47].

     According to the volume of context irony can be divided into following types:

     - situational irony,

     - associative irony,

     - global ironical implication.

     Situational irony is an evident emotionally colored type of irony; this is irony, which is immediately realized. The contrast between situational context and direct meaning of the word, phrase (sentence) immediately generate the meaning, opposite to the direct one. This type of irony is realized in microcontexts and more often in macrocontexts. It is realized by means of lexical level (a word, a phrase), and also syntactical level (detached syntactical constructions, transposition of syntactical structures). By means of these two levels a relatively simple context with a double structure: the presentation of the situation (by a part of sentence, paragraph) and commentary, its evaluation by the author or a character. Both elements of the structure are always situated in contact. Situational irony is used to create bright details, momentary sketches in the system of fiction. Most often it is used in dialogues. As a rule this type of irony depends on linear context, which rarely exceeds the limits of a paragraph [Походня, 1989, 62-63].

     Assoсiative irony is a concealed delicate type of irony, figurative meaning in this case is realized insensibly, and new meanings appear gradually. Gradual augment of new meanings needs large contexts, that’s why most often associative irony is realized in megacontexts (within several supraphrasal units, the whole story, novel and so on). When associative irony takes place we deal with structurally complicated contexts with contact and distant disposition of important elements. Using the means of different linguistic levels (from lexical to textual), functioning during the development of the whole text, associative irony serves as an efficient method of creating fiction characters, expressing the author’s characterization of personages and his own outlook [Походня, 1989, 62-63].

     We speak about global ironical implication, when the whole literary work is ironical. In this case the artist has an inner aim to bring everything into challenge or negation. Being not bound by any final “truth”, the author easily passes from one opinion to another, underlining relativity and limitation of all “rules” established by man [Кожевникова, Николаева, 1987, 132].

     According to the object of irony direction, it is possible to distinguish three types of it:

     - irony, directed at the person (including speaker, addressee and third person);

     - irony, directed at the object or the phenomenon;

     - irony, directed at the event or the situation.

     According to the direction of influence, irony can be divided into:

     - irony of the author (author     reader; author       character);

     - irony between the communicants (character   another character; character       himself; character       third person).

     Irony can also be subdivided into two types, according to the possibility of perception of literal meaning of the utterance: in language ironical utterance can not be interpreted differently, in speech interpretation of both literal and ironical meaning of the utterance is admissible.

     So, in our work we distinguish between the situational irony and the associative irony. We didn’t take into consideration global ironical implication, as we didn’t analyze literary works as a whole. We also held the classification of irony according to the direction of influence, which divides irony into two types: irony of the author and irony between the communicants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.4 The content and the form of irony

 

     The basic mechanism of creation the ironical meaning – is inconsistency between the form and the content of the utterance. The content of the ironical meaning may be the following:

     - criticism disguised by praise;

     - conflict between the ideal and the real.

     Irony can be realized either by stylistic means or stylistically neutral means. In both cases ironical utterance possesses a specific intonation [Охримович, 2004, 5].

     When we deal with stylistically neutral means of realization of irony, it is realized whether by intonation or by the context or situation.

     H. Paul Grice claims with regard to ironical intonation, “I am doubtful whether the ironical tone exists as a specific tone: I suspect that an ironical tone is always contemptuous, or an amused tone, or some other one connected with one or more particular feelings or attitudes; what qualifies such a tone as ironical is that it appears on this and other occasions, when an ironical remark is made… If speaking ironically has to be, or at least to appear to be the expression of a certain sort of feeling or attitude, then a tone suitable to such a feeling or attitude seems to be mandatory, at any rate for the least sophisticated examples” [Grice, 1979, 124-125].

     Concerning ironical context professor Skrebnev indicates that sometimes irony is not pointed out at all: its presence in the text is deduced only by reasoning. The reader cannot possibly believe that the author can be praising the object of speech in earnest. Sometimes the whole of the narrative is ironical as in the case with William Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair” [Скребнев, 1994, 130].

     Y.M. Skrebnev points out that in writing irony more often expressed by general situation which makes the reader guess the real view-point of the writer [Скребнев, 1994, 129].

     Irony can also be realized by stylistically colored means; the most typical signs of irony are graphical stylistic devices: inverted commas or italics.

     When quoting is used for separate words and phrases inverted commas point out at the re-comprehension and at the fact that the word is used in the meaning which it gains in the described milieu or in the meaning which is typical for the speech or the ideology of the character. Such a harshly ironical effect of inverted commas may be intensified by the distortion of orthography. For example:

     And then they had luv. They “luved” each other. Luv was enough, luv covered a multitude of ignorances, luv would provide, luv would strew their path with roses and primroses [Арнольд, 1973, 20].

     Dickens, writing of the Old Bailey, the main criminal court of London, as it was in 1780, says:

     It was famous for the pillory, a wise old institution, that inflicted a punishment of which no one could foresee the extent; also, for the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action; also for extensive transaction in blood-money, another fragment of ancestral wisdom, systematically leading to the most frightful mercenary crimes that could be committed under heaven.

     The italicized words are used ironically in this extract [Мальцев, 1980, 17].

     Some linguists consider irony as a subjective factor of changing a word meaning and it is illustrated by separate examples. Changing a meaning, in this case, is a result of a definite stylistic evaluative device.

     Word-formation stylistic devices:

     There are several evaluative suffixes, which give an ironic sound to a word. Sometimes a suffix and a root (base) meaning of a word are interconditional. For example (from the French language):

     barbouilleur (a vapid painter)

     écrivailleur (a scribbler)

     flicaille (an espionage gang)

     musiquer (to play badly (about music)

     Adding the suffix -ish to nominal bases (in the English language) forms adjectives with negative modality: bookish, childish, doggish, goatish, sheepish, womanish. The negative appraisal is strengthened if the suffix -ish is added to compound bases such as stand-offish, come-hitherish, honey-moonish.

    The most important nominal suffixes of negative evaluation are: -ard, -ster,

-aster, -eer and a semiaffix -monger: drunkard, coward, gangster, hipster, oldster, poetster, profiteer, black-marketeer, scare-monger, war-monger, panic-monger [Арнольд, 1981, 117].

     The diminutive suffix forms words with indication to the small size and simultaneously endearment, sounding humorously and disdainfully ones: -kin (lambkin), -let (chicklet, starlet) -ling (weakling), -y (daddy), -ie (lassie, oldie) [Арнольд, 1981, 119].

     The formation with a prefix may serve to express irony in the context: Elle était mariée, démarie comme toutes les jeunes filles d'aujour-d'hui. (She married, divorced and married again (remarried) like all of modern young ladies). The verb "démarier" is not registered by lexicography.

     Changing the meaning of a word by narrowing may be used as an author's stylistic neologism to reproduce irony. Ironic re-comprehension of a word is realized in the context:

     Qu'aillé au diable avec sa serenade; ce n'est qu'une aubade (Let him go to the devil with his serenade; it's just a hooting).

     Sometimes irony is expressed by an unusual combination of words or a phrase:

     II n'as pas un sou ce Cresus de nos jours (He is penniless, Cresus of our days).

     Irony is expressed by the discrepancy between the phraseologism's meaning and the proper name Cresus [Потоцкая, 1990, 204-205].

     Formally irony may be expressed by any trope. So any word, any locution may take ironic characteristics. For example, the epithet “formidable” used to describe the lines of soldiers going to a battle or a fighting ship, sounds differently than when it is used as an epithet, describing an appearance of a fighting chicken [Рубайло, 1961, 52-53].

     N.P. Pototzkaja points out the following syntactical devices' forms of realization of irony:

     Antithesis - contrast, which is based on contradiction. Antithesis is comparison of opposite phenomena in sense and meaning or contrary to the degree of one and the same action, condition, qualities or property [Рубайло, 1961, 63]. For Example:

     II travaillait d'arrache-pied, tout en faisant la grasse matinée et en se baladant dans les rues de Paris toute la sainte journée (He was working tooth and nail, sleeping long in morning and hanging about the Paris streets for days).

     Hyperbole - a figurative expression, in which the real size, quality and condition of the described phenomenon are exaggerated [Рубайло, 1961, 73].