Verbal irony, a form of figurative language, uses the discrepancy between a speaker’s intended meaning and the literal word meanings to achieve social goals. Yet, little research exists on individual differences that may disrupt irony understanding. Verbal irony may challenge shy children, who tend to interpret ambiguous stimuli as being threatening, and who have difficulties with mentalizing in social contexts. This study assessed whether shy children interpret ironic statements differently than do non-shy children. Children (8- to11-year-olds) listened to stories wherein one character made a statement to another character that was a literal or ironic criticism or a literal or ironic compliment. Children appraised the speaker’s belief and communicative intention. Shyness was assessed using self report measures of social anxiety symptoms and shy negative affect. Shy children did not differ from non-shy peers in comprehending speakers’ beliefs. However, shy children rated speakers who made ironic criticisms as being more mean than did children low in shyness. Thus, while understanding that speakers intended to communicate their true beliefs, shy children construed the social meaning of irony differently, indicating difficulties with pragmatics. Such subtle differences in pragmatic understanding may underlie some of the social difficulties facing shy children.

In this thesis William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of The Shrew is analyzed from a feminist perspective. It is argued that the female characters Katherina and Bianca are mainly constructed through language expressed by male characters as binary oppositions. By an act of deconstruction within the play, these images, or constructed representations, are adjusted and somewhat reversed in the end. In addition, it is shown how the Induction, an introductory part of the play, adds aspects of construction and deconstruction, which supports an ironic reading and a questioning of the constructed gender roles.

Irony has for long been on the boundary between philosophy and arts owing to its both verbal/logical character and its aesthetic appeal. Recently, Rorty proposed irony as the main discursive attitude in a liberal society. In this study, I investigate liberal irony from a philosophical perspective. More specifically, I demonstrate that irony is representative of a certain view of subjectivity and an ethical stance, a critical tool that is of special importance in a coherence view of truth and a rhetorical form that appeals both to the rational and irrational.

At present the literature of counter-monument studies does not account for the complex interactions of irony and nostalgia in memorial spaces. The three case studies examined in this project show that nostalgia can produce critically engaging spaces of deliberation depending on how ironic commemoration intervenes in comic or tragic frames. In order to show that more rhetorical focus is possible, I have challenged the conceptualization of counter-monument studies through what I have termed the “ironic monumental disruption.” Monument studies must address how the idea of the counter-monument, in which the "counter" supposedly resides in the artifact itself, valorizes monolithic critiques and fails to recognize that contexts, interactions, and artifacts all shape the symbolism of the commemorative site. Alternatively, ironic monumental disruptions offer critical and deliberative opportunities in their interactions with visitors and provide more conceptual insight into transitional commemorative practices. The monuments reviewed in this project initially appeared to provide additional reinforcement for escapist, capitalist narratives, but my examination of them has revealed that allowing for (ironic) commemorative contradictions provides discursive openings for publics unknowingly silenced by a lack of public deliberation. Commemorative irony produces valuable insights into the current historical moment and the representational issues created by ideological transitions. The citizens of Bosnia, Bulgaria, and Hungary express varying levels of nostalgia about their communist past, which is why the commemorative sites within these countries create a valuable spectrum of ironic and nostalgic entanglements. Commemorative irony produces valuable insights into the current historical moment and the representational issues created by ideological transitions. / text

После рассмотрения пьес «Бег», «Багровый остров» и «Иван Васильевич» можно выделить общие закономерности в области приемов комического, характерные для всех трех произведений. Итак, наиболее частотными приемами комического, используемыми при создании сюжетных ситуаций и обрисовке характеров действующих лиц, являются: прием несоо��ветствия (между словом и делом, видимостью и явным положением вещей, внешностью героя и его поведением); смена «масок» и ролей; алогичность, абсурдность поведения действующих лиц. Общим для пьес является и обращение писателя к «говорящим» именам и фамилиям в качестве приема комического, что позволяет автору дать более точную характеристику героям. Несмотря на наличие общих приемов комического (как в изображении сценических ситуации, так и речи действующих лиц), пьесы «Бег», «Багровый остров» и «Иван Васильевич» обладают и принципиальным различием в области форм комического. Так, доминирующей формой комического в пьесе «Бег» является ирония, в «Багровом острове» - сатира, в комедии «Иван Васильевич» - переплетение сатиры и юмора. / Magistrinio darbo tikslas – komiškumo formų ir raiškos būdų nagrinėjimas M. Bulgakovo pjesėse „Bėgimas“, „Purpurinė sala“ ir „Ivanas Vasiljevičius“. Išnagrinėjus M. Bulgakovo kūrinius, galima išskirti bendrus dėsningumus komiškumo raiškos būdų srityje, kurie yra būdingi visoms trims pjesėms. Dažniausiai naudojami komiškumo raiškos būdai yra šie: nesuderinimas tarp veikėjo žodžių ir jo veiksmų, „kaukių“ keitimas, veikėju veiksmų absurdiškumas. Visoms trims pjesėms yra būdingi parodija ir groteskas kaip komiškumo raiškos būdai, „kalbantys“ veikėjų vardai ir pavardės. Trijų pjesių komiškumo formos yra skirtingos: pjesėje „Bėgimas“ dominuoja ironija, „Purpurinėje saloje“ – satyra, komedijoje „Ivanas Vasiljevičius“ – satyra ir humoras. / The purpose of work - consideration of comic forms and means in M. Bulgakov plays "Running", “The Crimson Island " and "Ivan Vasiljevich". After consideration of plays of М. Bulgakov, it is possible to note the general comic means which are typical to all plays. The most often comic means which are used at creation of subject situations and characters of heroes are the following: the means of discrepancy; change of "masks" of heroes; absurdity of behaviour of characters. Means of a parody and use of "speaking" names and surnames are often. Comic forms in each play are different: in "Running" - irony, in “The Crimson Island” - satire, in a comedy "Ivan Vasiljevich" - satire and humour.

My dissertation is motivated by two general problems within contemporary North American racial politics. First, the increasing ideological impetus of a “post-racist” society contradicts a spate of events that are symptomatic and constitutive of racial and ethnic essentialisms. Second, the logic of multiculturalism and antiracism has often been expressed in a language of race and identity rooted in a rigid system of immutable differences (Hall, 1997; Ang, 2001). The challenge is to deconstruct race and ethnicity in a language that is critical of new racisms as well as the ways in which racial and ethnic difference is seized and diffused by market multiculturalism. While some theorists have used elements of postmodern theory to develop a “resistance multiculturalism” sensitive to shifting social meanings and floating racial signifiers (see McLaren, 1994), they have rarely explored the political possibilities of “ludic postmodernism” (parody, pastiche, irony) as a critical response to multicultural ideologies. If part of postmodernism as an intellectual movement includes self-reflexivity, self-parody, and the rejection of a foundational “truth,” for example, the various racial and ethnic categories reified under multiculturalism are perhaps open to revision and contestation (Hutcheon, 1989). To develop this particular postmodern critique of multiculturalism, I draw on three case studies concerned with identity and representation in North American popular media. The first case considers vocal impersonation as a disruption to the visual primacy of race by examining the stand-up comedy films of Dave Chappelle, Russell Peters, and Margaret Cho. The second case turns to the postmodern bodies of cyborgs and humanoid robots in the science fiction film I, Robot (2004) as a racial metaphor at the crossroads of whiteness, inhumanity, and redemption. The final case discusses the politics of irony in relation to ethnolinguistic identity and debates surrounding sports mascots. Each case study recycles racial and ethnic stereotypes for a variety of political purposes, drawing out the connections and tensions between postmodernism and multiculturalism. A postmodern critique of multiculturalism may offer antiracist politics an understanding of race and ethnicity rooted in a strategic indeterminacy, which allows for multidimensional political coalitions directed against wider socioeconomic inequalities.

In the dissertation, the theoretical assumptions proposed by the cognitive model of conceptual blending have been applied to the practical study of irony in Lithuanian and American news website headlines, proving that the theory of blending is able to account for the mechanism of irony processing, and does not conflict with the majority of the other theories of irony processing. The dissertation aims at determining cross-cultural similarities and differences in the structure, processing and functioning of irony in American and Lithuanian news headlines by exploring the integration mechanisms and their constituent parts within the framework of conceptual blending. Based on data collected from Lithuanian and American news websites, the thesis explores empirically the types of integration models, frames, inner and outer vital relations, compressions, means of expression, functions and conventionalization that create irony. In accordance with the main aim the changes in the perception of the phenomenon of irony are identified, the ideas related to the definition of irony are consolidated, a list of possible indicators of irony is composed and the role of context in irony comprehension discussed. The dissertation does not only examine empirically the practical viability of the application of the conceptual blending framework to the analysis of irony, but also, while performing a contrastive analysis, makes an attempt at characterizing common and specific features of Lithuanian and... [to full text] / Disertacijoje teorinės konceptualiojo blendingo prielaidos taikomos praktiniam ironijos tyrimui naujienų antraštėse lietuviškame ir amerikietiškame žiniatinkliuose siekiant įrodyti, kad blendingo teorija yra pajėgi paaiškinti ironijos veikimo mechanizmą neprieštaraujant daugumai kitų ironijos suvokimo teorijų. Remiantis konceptualiojo blendingo teorija disertacijoje keliamas tikslas nustatyti ironijos sukūrimo ir išraiškos struktūros, perteikimo ir funkcionavimo, integracinius mechanizmų bei jų sudedamųjų dalių panašumus ir skirtumus tiriant Amerikos ir Lietuvos žiniatinklių antraštes. Tikslui pasiekti disertacijoje apžvelgiamas ironijos sampratos kitimas, konsoliduojamos ironijos apibrėžimo idėjos, pateikiama ironijos mechanizmo teorijų apžvalga bei kritika, sudaromas galimų ironijos žymiklių sąrašas, bei aptariama konteksto įtaka ironijos suvokimui. Disertacijoje ne tik empiriškai išnagrinėjamas bei pagrindžiamas praktinis konceptualiojo blendingo taikymas ironijai analizuoti, bet taip pat atliekamas lyginamasis tyrimas išskirtiniams Lietuvos ir Amerikos ironiškų naujienų antraščių bruožams nustatyti.

Disertacijoje teorinės konceptualiojo blendingo prielaidos taikomos praktiniam ironijos tyrimui naujienų antraštėse lietuviškame ir amerikietiškame žiniatinkliuose siekiant įrodyti, kad blendingo teorija yra pajėgi paaiškinti ironijos veikimo mechanizmą neprieštaraujant daugumai kitų ironijos suvokimo teorijų. Remiantis konceptualiojo blendingo teorija disertacijoje keliamas tikslas nustatyti ironijos sukūrimo ir išraiškos struktūros, perteikimo ir funkcionavimo, integracinius mechanizmų bei jų sudedamųjų dalių panašumus ir skirtumus tiriant Amerikos ir Lietuvos žiniatinklių antraštes. Tikslui pasiekti disertacijoje apžvelgiamas ironijos sampratos kitimas, konsoliduojamos ironijos apibrėžimo idėjos, pateikiama ironijos mechanizmo teorijų apžvalga bei kritika, sudaromas galimų ironijos žymiklių sąrašas, bei aptariama konteksto įtaka ironijos suvokimui. Disertacijoje ne tik empiriškai išnagrinėjamas bei pagrindžiamas praktinis konceptualiojo blendingo taikymas ironijai analizuoti, bet taip pat atliekamas lyginamasis tyrimas išskirtiniams Lietuvos ir Amerikos ironiškų naujienų antraščių bruožams nustatyti. / In the dissertation, the theoretical assumptions proposed by the cognitive model of conceptual blending have been applied to the practical study of irony in Lithuanian and American news website headlines, proving that the theory of blending is able to account for the mechanism of irony processing, and does not conflict with the majority of the other theories of irony processing. The dissertation aims at determining cross-cultural similarities and differences in the structure, processing and functioning of irony in American and Lithuanian news headlines by exploring the integration mechanisms and their constituent parts within the framework of conceptual blending. Based on data collected from Lithuanian and American news websites, the thesis explores empirically the types of integration models, frames, inner and outer vital relations, compressions, means of expression, functions and conventionalization that create irony. In accordance with the main aim the changes in the perception of the phenomenon of irony are identified, the ideas related to the definition of irony are consolidated, a list of possible indicators of irony is composed and the role of context in irony comprehension discussed. The dissertation does not only examine empirically the practical viability of the application of the conceptual blending framework to the analysis of irony, but also, while performing a contrastive analysis, makes an attempt at characterizing common and specific features of Lithuanian and... [to full text]

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This thesis considers four novels written by Douglas Coupland: Generation X (1991), Shampoo Planet (1992), Microserfs (1995), and Girlfriend in a Coma (1998), and demonstrates how each of these novels provides a discursive space in which Coupland examines the members of Generation X: those born between 1965 and 1980. Frederic Jameson's theories about postmodernism, which he equates with the concept of late capitalism, offer a theoretical lens through which this demographic can be interpreted because Coupland's characters struggle to find meaning and sincerity in a realm where advertising and consumerism are omnipresent and nearly all aspects of life are commodified. The ultimate consequence of the alienation and apathy that result from such rampant materialism is the emergence of an idiom that privileges irony. For Coupland, the prevalence of this irony is the most problematic aspect of postmodern society. Consequently, in portraying how the members of Generation X cope with late capitalism and its concomitant irony, Coupland's first four novels function as a trajectory that demonstrate how he and his characters grapple with and eventually repudiate it.