Obligatory processing of literal and nonliteral meanings in verbal irony

Abstract

In two experiments, we tested the hypothesis that some portion of the literal meaning of ironic remarks is processed automatically, along with the intended meaning. In experiment 1, subjects took longer to judge the evaluative tone (positive or negative) of utterances used ironically than used literally, demonstrating that the literal meaning of the ironic utterances was accessed, and interfered with the nonliteral meaning judgment. In experiment 2, subjects took longer to judge the evaluative tone of the literal meaning of utterances used ironically than used literally, demonstrating that the nonliteral meaning of the ironic utterances was accessed, and interfered with the literal meaning judgment. These results support a multiple meaning model of irony processing in which both literal and nonliteral meanings are obligatorily processed. Results are also consistent with social-functional studies of irony demonstrating that the evaluative tone of the literal meaning of irony serves to mute the perceived tone of the intended, nonliteral meaning (Dews and Winner, 1995).