MUTING THE MEANING - A SOCIAL FUNCTION OF IRONY

According to the tinge hypothesis, the evaluative tone of the literal meaning of ironic utterances automatically colors the hearer's percept ion of the intended meaning. In Experiment 1, participants read short stories that end with either a literal or an ironic insult. Ironic ins ults are rated as less critical than literal insults, and the ironic s peaker is rated as less annoyed than the literal speaker. In addition, the speaker-target relationship is affected less negatively when the insult is delivered ironically rather than literally. These results ar e obtained regardless of whether the addressee or a third person is th e target of the remark and regardless of whether the story characters know one another or have just met. In Experiment 2, participants read similar short stories that end with either a literal or ironic complim ent. Results mirror those of Experiment 1. Ironic compliments are rate d as less praising than literal compliments, and the ironic speaker is rated as less pleased than the literal speaker. The speaker-target re lationship is affected less positively when the compliment is ironic t han when it is literal. As in Experiment 1, these results are obtained regardless of addressee or familiarity of the story characters. The r esults from these two experiments support the tinge hypothesis by demo nstrating that irony mutes the criticism or praise conveyed by literal language.