Context Incongruity and Irony Processing

Abstract

In this research we investigated the role of context in interpretation (Experiments 1 and 2) and relative processing (Experiment 3) of literal and ironic statements. As such, we manipulated degree of situational negativity (using strongly negative, weakly negative, and neutral contexts) and found that, in strongly negative situations, reading times for ironic statements were slower than for literal statements, whereas in weakly negative situations reading times for ironic statements were faster than or equivalent to reading times for literal statements. When these reading time data were related to interpretation data, we found that differences in processing time could be predicted by certain aspects of interpretation. We argue that these results support a direct access model of figurative language processing (e.g., Gibbs, 1994), and also support Colston's (2002) theory of contrast and assimilation in verbal irony.