Irony as counter positioning : Reader comments on the EU migrant crisis

CHOVANEC, Jan. Irony as counter positioning : Reader comments on the EU migrant crisis. In Jobert, Manuel; Sorlin, Sandrine. The Pragmatics of Irony and Banter. 1st ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2018, p. 165-194. Linguistic Approaches to Literature 30. ISBN 978-90-272-0053-2. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lal.30.09cho.

Basic information

• Original name: Irony as counter positioning : Reader comments on the EU migrant crisis
• Name in Czech: Ironie jako forma vyjadřování postoje : Komentáře čtenářů na migrační krizi v EU
• Authors: CHOVANEC, Jan (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: 1. vyd. Amsterdam, The Pragmatics of Irony and Banter, p. 165-194, 30 pp. Linguistic Approaches to Literature 30, 2018.
• Publisher: John Benjamins

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Chapter(s) of a specialized book
• Field of Study: 60203 Linguistics
• Country of publisher: Netherlands
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/18:00100699
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• ISBN: 978-90-272-0053-2
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lal.30.09cho
• Keywords (in Czech): humor; pragmatika; jinakost; analýza diskurzu
• Keywords in English: humour; pragmatics; otherness; discourse analysis
• Tags: rivok, topvydavatel
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This chapter examines how ironic utterances in online news forums are used for the purpose of collective positioning of the commenting readers in opposition to other groups. Approaching irony as an act of echoic interpretation, the analysis focuses on how readers echo both the representations made by the media texts and the beliefs and ideologies presumed to be held by other social actors. It is argued that through irony, readers express their oppositional attitudes, disaffiliating themselves from the ironized social actors and their real or assumed representations. Simultaneously, ironists enforce their own opinions and standpoints, which are not just personal but – as argued in the paper – representative of a larger group to which the commenter belongs. By tracing how irony is used in reader comments to delegitimize dissonant views and emphasize contrastive self-positioning, this paper seeks to extend the application of an interactional pragmatic approach to irony by adding a critical discourse analytical dimension to it.

Links

• GA16-05484S, research and development project: Name: Diskurzní konstrukce jinakosti v mediálním a postmediálním prostoru

Investor: Czech Science Foundation