A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF IRONY IN SOME BRITISH AND IRAQI TV COMIC SHOWS

Abstract

Lots of comic shows have been largely displayed on various TV channels and social media. The presenters of such shows talk about different issues such as political, social, economic etc. This study aims at identifying the most common pragmatic strategies used to issue irony in the two comic shows which are Last week tonight and Al-Basheer are chosen. . Also, it aims at showing the differences between British and Iraqi comic shows in these aspects. To test out the validity of these hypothesis, eight comic videos are selected-four from each show. It is hypothesized that: (i) the presenter of comic shows may employ different pragmatic strategies to achieve irony; and (ii) pragmatic aspects such as speech act, pragmatic presupposition and context have a vital role in determining the ironic meaning in British and Iraqi comic shows. The model adopted in this study is a pragmatic one. Its main categories are: Grice's cooperative principle and implicature(1975), Yule's inference (2006), Mey's pragmatic presupposition(2001), Searl's speech act theory (1979), and Leech's (1983) maxims of politeness. The most important conclusions the study reached at are: (i) pragmatic aspects such as speech act, pragmatic presupposition and context have a decisive role in determining the ironic meaning in British and Iraqi comic shows;(ii) irony can be used as a tool of criticism in comic shows.